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Plucky until the bitter end, Westmeath still suffered a Leinster Senior Football Championship final loss to Dublin at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.

I thought I was hearing things when I tuned into Midwest radio last Saturday evening to see how our minors were getting on against our bitter rivals Galway. I did not make it to the game because of the lure of what was on TV as I wanted to see how Roscommon would respond after their embarrassing defeat at the hands of Sligo. Mayo’s defeat to Galway by a whopping 17 points has to go down as one of the darkest days in Mayo football at minor level. I do not recall any Mayo minor team taking a pasting of that magnitude.

Diarmuid O'Connor is the only potential doubt for Mayo ahead of their Connacht Senior Football Championship final against Sligo next weekend, but joint Mayo manager Noel Connelly expects the Ballintubber man to get over his fractured wrist in time for the game. Connelly said this week: "Diarmuid O'Connor has a slight hairline fracture on his wrist, he's a x-ray during the week, but all the indications are that he's fine and will be fit to play. But he hasn't been playing contact football with us since the Connacht semi-final, and he hasn't played for Ballintubber in either of the club championship games, but we're hoping to have him this weekend. If not, if the doctors say to be better not to chance him for the [training] game on Sunday we won't, but we're still hoping to have him for selection the next weekend."

After seven years of heartbreaking narrow defeats, Galway secured this year's provincial minor crown, and they did it in style on a 3-14 to 1-3 scoreline.

Armagh are no world beaters, but they are division three league champions, having also been promoted to division two for next season. They beat Fermanagh in the division three final by 0-16 to 0-11.

Apart from long term injury victim Orla McGrath (cruciate ligament) Galway camogie team manager Tony Ward has a full squad from which to select for this weekend’s championship clash with Offaly at St Brendan’s Park,  Birr (2.30pm).

The Galway hurlers face a severe test of their credentials this Sunday afternoon at Croke Park (4pm). In order to annex what would be the county's second Leinster title, they will need to produce a top-class display against current All-Ireland champions Kilkenny.

With each passing week every SSE Airtricity League premier division clash seems to be increasing in importance - thus Saturday’s Showgrounds clash between Sligo Rovers and Galway United can certainly be classed as crucial.

After this weekends final round of action in the group stages of the Mayo GAA Senior Football Championship we now know the eight sides who’ll be contesting the knock-out stages. Breaffy, Castlebar Mitchels, Ballintubber and Kiltane all won their groups and Knockmore, Ballina Stephenites, Aghamore and Garrymore joined them after finishing in second place in their respective groups.

A fellow attendee was telling me last Saturday afternoon, at a wedding in the Ardilaun Hotel in Galway, that Niall Carew's Sligo team were available at 7/1 in some bookies. He looked me in the eye and asked, "What do you think, Silke? Are they worth a punt?" I told him that they were astonishing odds, however, that on all known recent form, including two successive promotions, Roscommon would be expected to win. However he should check out the handicap, as I didn't think there would be that much between them.