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Life in general and sport in particular are all about “what ifs”. In the run-up to Mayo's crucial league game against Donegal on Sunday, I can't help but think of another what if. What if Corofin had beaten Castlebar Mitchels last November in the Connacht club final, how would Stephen Rochford have coped with the pressures of managing two high profile teams; with great difficulty, I think is the answer. Despite being robbed of the services of the Castlebar contingent for the first five rounds of the league, because of their run to the All-Ireland club final, the Mitchels have done Mayo football a huge favour in beating Corofin and allowing Rochford to concentrate on matters Mayo. Try to imagine what it would have been like managing both teams; virtually impossible. You would probably cope during the week where you'd have training with both teams on alternative nights but it's the weekends that would constitute the big problem.

Last Saturday can only be described as a Super Saturday within Mayo GAA circles with three big games on — However none of the results matched the excitement within the county. The All-Ireland champions Dublin travelled to Elvery’s MacHale Park for what was meant to be a walk in the park for them, given Mayo’s performance the previous week in Cork. What ensued was everything but as a very different Mayo made them fight to the bitter end, only for Dublin to scrape home by two points.

Aidan O’Shea will play his first football in Mayo colours since last years All Ireland semi-final replay defeat to Dublin when Mayo take on Cork in Páirc Ui Rinn on Sunday. The Breaffy man has been picked at centre-half-forward in Rochford’s first National Football League team.

On Sunday in Carrick on Shannon Ardnaree will face into their eighth championship game this season, and when the full time whistle goes, Declan O'Dea's men will have left everything they have on the pitch to make sure there's a ninth one coming up next month in Croke Park.

Following Corofin’s facile 4-14 to 2-6 demolition of St. Mary’s (Sligo) last weekend at Markievicz Park, and Castlebar Mitchels impressive 3-8 to 0-13 victory over Clann na nGael at Hyde Park, the sides will meet in the Connacht club senior final in Tuam Stadium (2pm) on November 22.

I went to Elverys McHale Park last weekend expecting to see a whitewash, a landslide victory for Mayo champions Hollymount Carramore against Leitrim champions Melvin Gaels in the Connaught Intermediate final. It surely couldn’t have been anything else, I thought. The South Mayo amalgamation were priced at an unbackable 1/8 to win the game, Melvin Gales were 9/2 and the draw was 14/1. What ensued was far from a landslide.

It was a good day for Galway club football last Sunday at Hyde Park with both Galway intermediate and junior champions, Maigh Cuilinn and Clifden,  qualifying for their respective Connacht finals.

Sunday’s senior final between neighbours Breaffy and Castlebar is likely to be an enthralling affair and I cannot wait. It is bizarre that the junior, intermediate, and senior finals were/are all local derbies in 2015. There are some big hitters squaring up to each other on Sunday which will make it compelling viewing. Aidan O'Shea has bulldozed Breaffy and Mayo to victory in many games this year so of course the big talking point is what Castlebar will do to negate his effectiveness.

Since the last time that these two neighbours came together in the senior championship, Breaffy have won their two league meetings, a 2-13 to 0-7 win in 2014, and a 3-9 to 1-12 victory in the spring of this year. But it is the meeting before those two that was the last big one, with Mitchels claiming their 28th senior title on a rain soaked day back in 2013.

This one should be special, just as in the junior final that precedes it, the local rivalry between both sides will add something special to Sunday's intermediate final. Hollymount-Carramore and The Neale have crossed swords plenty of times down through the years, but never with this much at stake.