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I don’t know about you, but I have been bored out of my tree watching Gaelic football in this year’s championship so far. As a viewing spectacle it has been very poor fare. Of course it is up to the various counties to raise their standards to those set by the likes of Dublin, Cork and Kerry, but watching the championship over recent seasons suggest that the gap between the elite and the rest is widening. The suggestion from both Colm O’Rourke and Kevin McStay, on last weekend’s Sunday Game, for a two or three tier system is surely going to become a reality sooner or later.

I don’t know about you, but I have been bored out of my tree watching Gaelic football in this year’s championship so far. As a viewing spectacle it has been very poor fare. Of course it is up to the various counties to raise their standards to those set by the likes of Dublin, Cork and Kerry, but watching the championship over recent seasons suggest that the gap between the elite and the rest is widening. The suggestion from both Colm O’Rourke and Kevin McStay, on last weekend’s Sunday Game, for a two or three tier system is surely going to become a reality sooner or later.

Confusion reigns as far as this columnist is concerned in trying to predict the outcome of Sunday’s league final. It is eerily quiet about the place, for many reasons, which has meant the build up to this final has been quite different. There is also a wintry sting in the air these past few days which does not help create an exciting atmosphere for a big game. The reality for the downbeat mood could also have something to do with the fact that that we just do not really know what to expect on Sunday. But I felt that way too for the semi-final, when so few from the participating counties took an interest in proceedings. Very few I met or spoke to prior to the game gave Mayo much of a chance of reaching the league final. Most thought that Kerry had played tricks with the Mayo players’ minds during the final round of the league one week earlier in Tralee. Kerry played with the kind of arrogant cocky swagger which is their wont for most of the afternoon in Croke Park without displaying an ounce of panic until the game had practically slipped away from them. On this occasion there were no big guns on the subs bench to rescue the situation… they were all on the field of play. They played poorly and fitness levels were questionable. They were also missing two of their big stars in Declan O’Sullivan and Tomás Ó Sé, and a combination of these factors meant that they could not stop a more energetic Mayo side once they got a sniff of victory. In times past when Kerry felt any level of threat, they simply put the foot back on the pedal and drove on. Not so on this occasion and after Pat Harte’s brilliantly executed penalty Mayo looked re-energised, fitter, fresher, and stronger as they recorded another famous victory over the Kingdom. The handful of loyal supporters that travelled were not found wanting when assisting their team over the finishing line.

As Waterford effectively cruised into a semi-final with Kilkenny, many onlookers were understandably left looking a little confused.

Always a pleasure to receive, awards are even more welcome when they are voted on by the most important people – the guests and visitors who eat, drink and stay in any hotel. Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa Galway, no stranger to awards of all kinds since opening in 2001, is delighted to have recently won two great awards as voted for by VIPs – their guests – a Studiosus Quality Award 2009 & a CIE Award of Excellence 2009.

Galway basketball clubs take a break from league action this weekend to continue their senior men’s National Cup campaign.

I am confused as to the real potential of this Mayo team. I can’t honestly say how good this team is, as I doubt they have ever played an easier inter-county match in their lives, nor will they play an easier one ever again. I suggested here in this paper last week that I fully expected Roscommon to put it up to Mayo for 40 minutes or so but that ultimately Mayo’s greater fitness, ability, and general know how, would surface and they would pull away from Roscommon in the last 30 minutes possibly winning by 5/6 points. As you now know we won by 20! I had alluded to Roscommon’s morale-boosting victory over Leitrim a few weeks earlier that would have seen them arrive in Castlebar full of hope and brimming with confidence. I met a few of their supporters before the match in the Sportlann who had the audacity to suggest that they were in fact well capable of beating this particular Mayo team, and for me not to be one bit surprised if they pulled off a famous victory. Oh how wrong they were. This was arguably the worst performance from a senior Roscommon team in a championship encounter that I or many others have ever witnessed. Fergal O’Donnell, the messiah who had guided the county to their historic minor All Ireland victory in 2006, was in charge and their supporters were giddy with excitement and expectancy. Eleven of that minor squad were involved in one way or another last Saturday and they appeared to be relaxed and in confident mood as I watched them go through their paces in the warm up on the back pitch a half hour before the game.

George Bernard Shaw once said, "You see things and say 'Why?' but I dream of things that never were and I say 'Why not?” Our minors are our ‘dream team’ on Sunday next and it is on your brave young shoulders that all Mayo’s dreams currently rest. Good doesn't just happen. Good people make it happen. And you lads are good people. You are the most exciting generation ever — the best educated, and clearly possessing of sporting talent, and with the prospect of making a huge contribution to your county's future. God knows we need a boost, a big sporting win, to give us some hope of achieving bigger and better things in the years to come. It is such a long time since we won an All-Ireland championship final in Croke Park that a win on Sunday would help eradicate some of the awful memories we have from the last couple of decades. Ultimately when it comes to match time it will be down to the panel of players and management whether or not we will have something to get excited about.