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Westport are the All-Ireland intermediate football champions after a pulsating win over St Colmcille's of Meath. It was hearts in mouths stuff at the bitter end as a Colmcille's player lofted a ball towards the Westport goal mouth only for stand in keeper Aaron Dunne to calmly clear his lines. The final whistle was blown immediately afterwards.

Mayo's 2017 league opener ended in defeat to an aggressive and physical Monaghan in Castlebar last Saturday evening. Despite my declaration last week that Mayo should target the national league for silverware, the target very much now is about survival. Again applause must be given to the 11,000 or so hardy souls who turned out to support the team. The basis for this first round defeat is pure and simple, Monaghan were better prepared and had a better pre season as it was purely obvious going into the final quarter that they had spent more time on the paddock than Stephen Rochford's team.

We've been here before and there is no reason to panic, last year Mayo were caught like deer in the headlights against Cork in their league opener, where a Rebel outfit who ultimately got relegated and had a championship season to forget ran riot on Leeside.

And breathe. There is no word in the English dictionary to describe what went on last Sunday. Mayo produced their gutsiest performance ever to snatch a draw against raging hot favourites and current champions Dublin in Croke Park in the All-Ireland final. The tone was set long before throw-in as the teams entered the field. I happened to be on the sideline doing a piece with Radio 1 as I watched Stephen Cluxton lead his team out to a deafening roar. I was left stunned to see Cillian O'Connor burst out the tunnel through the Dublin players, followed closely by Aidan O'Shea and the rest of his team mates. Misinformed initially, I was told Mayo lay in wait for Dublin to ruffle their feathers. The reason for this coming together was the fact that Dublin were meant to enter the field at 2.56 and Mayo at 2.58. This clash occurred at 3.02.

When Mayo needed a man to show the leadership in a clutch situation, their star man came good right at the death. Cillian O’Connor showed why he was picked by Stephen Rochford as his captain, when he created the space he needed to shimmy inside and drill the ball through the drizzle over the bar and electrify the Mayo faithful in Croke Park to haul his side level at the death.

After Brendan Maher lifted the Liam McCarthy Cup high over his head in the Hogan Stand a fortnight ago, he mentioned in his speech that it had been "six long years" for Tipperary waiting for this day. Six years may be a long time in Tipperary, but it was 38 years for Mayo to reach an All Ireland final from the last time they won it in 1951 to their next dance with the girls at the end of the summer in 1989. That particular dance saw Cork go home with girls and since then Mayo have gone back to the same dance hall on six more occasions only to leave by themselves at the end of the night when the jackets were being collected from the cloakroom.

The Mayo senior footballers are ready to go for their All Ireland final meeting with Dublin in a fortnight's time. At the county's press briefing ahead of the final on Wednesday night, manager Stephen Rochford fielded questions on the situation in the camp with Diarmuid O'Connor's fitness being the first question up, and the Crossmolina man replied saying: "Diarmuid is alive and well. We’ve trained three times since the Tipperary game and he’s been in all those sessions as has everyone else. We have 33 fit guys at this moment in time thank God."

The last 20 minutes in Croke Park last Sunday afternoon was very tough going for the Galwegians who had made the trip to Dublin support their team.

Mayo’s reign in Connacht was always going to come to an end at some stage, on a drizzly and grey night in Castlebar the maroon and white invaders from south of border, stared them down and stood tall at the end of the battle. When the final whistle went, the Galway faithful celebrated their 39th championship win over their old rivals with as much gusto and glee as if they had just claimed the All Ireland title.