It is finally time to get down to business.
After another year of the GAA's frustrating marriage to the imbalanced provincial championships, meaning virtually all of the entertaining games of the football championships were tucked beyond the consciousness of many on a Saturday evening, either behind a subscription paywall or not televised at all.
Now, however, there are just eight teams left in the football championship, following wins for Mayo and Donegal in the final qualifier games at Croke Park this afternoon.
Donegal's win owed much to the astonishing feats of one Paddy McBrearty, while Mayo stumbled over the line against Westmeath, made to sweat throughout the second half by John Heslin and co. despite having led by 12 in the first half.
There is no need to have an open draw, as the GAA wanted to avoid any repeat fixtures of provincial finals, so therefore, Tyrone will face Mayo, whilst Dublin take on Donegal.
Both games will go ahead next weekend, with the GAA ruling out the possibility of staging anything other than a doubleheader, meaning that the scrap for tickets will be pretty intense. Tickets are on sale now.
The semi-final draw switches around, and will look something like this:
Galway/Tipperary v Tyrone/Mayo
Kerry/Clare v Dublin/Donegal
The semi-finals are slated for August 21st and August 28th respectively.
See Also: 7 Of The Most Interesting Men In The GAA Right Now
