Rochford remained on in charge of Corofin, who he led to the All-Ireland club title earlier that year, playing brilliant football along the way, until they were taken down by Castlebar Mitchels in the 2015 Connacht final.

Corofin were favourites but it wasn’t a shock given that the Mitchels had been in the All-Ireland final in March 2014, having already taken out Corofin en route to the 2013 Connacht title. Corofin and St Brigid’s Roscommon had shared the five previous Connacht titles, between 2008-’12, but that was the only period during the previous two decades where Mayo clubs hadn’t had a grip on Connacht. In the other 15 seasons between 1996 and 2015, Mayo clubs won ten.

That was a glorious period for Mayo club football because, in the first 30 years of the Connacht championship, between 1966 and 1995, Mayo clubs only won five titles. The current drought is nothing like it used to be but Mayo club football has found itself in a difficult place once more. Not only has a Mayo club not won a Connacht title since 2015, they haven’t beaten a team from Galway or Roscommon in the meantime either.

Of course it’s not that simple. In 2018 and 2019, Ballintubber ran the great Corofin side to four and two points respectively. Corofin only beat Castlebar in 2016 and 2017 after extra-time in both matches. Knockmore lost the 2021 final to Pádraig Pearses by two points.

There are always isolated cases but Moycullen’s 12-point destruction of Westport last year definitely rang the alarm bells. Ballina Stephenites have great tradition in Connacht but their recent county final win against Breaffy was of such low quality – with just ten scores and only three from play – that it again heightened concerns about how far the standard in Mayo has fallen in comparison to the Galway and Roscommon club champions.

Can Ballina put that right now? They certainly believe that they have the pedigree to do so – in three of their last four appearances in the province, the Stephenites went on to win the Connacht title.

That was a different era but if Ballina want to make a real statement in Connacht again, both for themselves and Mayo club football, they have the ideal opportunity to do so against Corofin in Pearse Stadium.

Ballygunner’s familar road back to big time

At the end of last year’s Ballygunner v Na Piarsaigh Munster semi-final, the Ballygunner manager Darragh O’Sullivan raised his arms and unleashed a guttural roar of relief in front of the Mackey Stand in the Gaelic Grounds. Ballygunner still had to beat Ballyea in a Munster final. Ballyhale Shamrocks were also blocking any potential pathway back to another All-Ireland final. Yet none of that was relevant before the Na Piarsaigh game because of the magnitude of the match, and how much was really at stake.

In the history of the All-Ireland club championships, most of the biggest games have taken place in All-Ireland semi-finals and finals, but all those All-Ireland final meetings between previous champions had occurred in the last 25 years; Birr-Sarsfields (1998); Athenry-St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield (2000); Athenry-James Stephens (2005); Birr-Portumna (2008); Ballyhale-Portumna (2010); Na Piarsaigh-Cuala (2018); Ballyhale-St Thomas’ (2019); Ballyhale-Borris-Ileigh (2020); Ballygunner-Ballyhale (2023).

There have only been a handful of occasions where former All-Ireland champions met in the provinces. Prior to last year’s Ballygunner-Na Piarsaigh clash, the last marquee face-off was the 2008 Leinster final between Birr and Ballyhale. The sides also met in the previous year’s semi-final, when Birr dethroned Ballyhale as All-Ireland champions.

There have only been sporadic meetings of former champions in Munster, especially in recent years; Sixmilebridge and Midleton in 2013; Borris-Ileigh versus Glen Rovers in 2019; Ballygunner and Kilruane MacDonaghs last year.

Yet none of those games carried anything like the lure and attraction of Na Piarsaigh and Ballygunner in Limerick last November.

The first half certainly lived up to that billing until Ballygunner stepped on the gas in the second half, outscoring Na Piarsaigh by 1-11 to 0-4 to win by five. “They should put that game on a video and send it around the world and say these are club sides getting nothing for it,” said O’Sullivan afterwards. “Phenomenal.”

There were only seven recognised current inter-county players on show, but there were also ten former inter-county players on the field. The profile of the match was similar to some of the biggest heavyweight club clashes of the last three decades, especially when there had been a history between the sides.

When Portumna went into the 2010 All-Ireland final against Ballyhale Shamrocks, they were hotly fancied to win three in a row because when the sides met in the previous year’s semi-final, Portumna’s destruction of their opponents not only defined a new dynasty; it also undermined a critical plank of Ballyhale’s identity and esteem. “It was absolutely devastating,” recalled TJ Reid before Ballyhale played Newtownshandrum in the 2010 All-Ireland semi-final. “We just aren’t used to that in Ballyhale and with Kilkenny. It was a shock to us.”

Ballyhale used it like rocket fuel, going on to beat Portumna in that 2010 final by five points. In terms of billing, that was the biggest All-Ireland club hurling final ever played, the second time two multiple winners squared off against each other, with both sides sharing five All-Irelands between 2006-’10.

The first time two multiple hurling winners faced off was the Athenry-Birr All-Ireland semi-final in 2003. Both sides had won five of the previous seven All-Irelands. The clubs had also met in the 2000 All-Ireland semi-final, which Athenry won.

“Athenry were an outstanding team but we had the motivation because they had beaten us three years earlier,” recalled Birr’s Brian Mullins last year. “It was a massive game.” Ballygunner and Na Piarsaigh are the only two Munster teams to win an All-Ireland club in the last 19 years, but the intrigue and anticipation around last year’s clash is stored in their recent past history. Ballygunner lost to Na Piarsaigh three times (two finals and a semi-final) in the last decade before finally beating them in the 2018 final, when Na Piarsaigh were raging favourites.

Prior to last year, it was the only game Na Piarsaigh ever lost in Munster. That 2018 win was a watershed moment in the modern history of this Ballygunner side but squaring off against Na Piarsaigh as All-Ireland champions last year laced the game with added spice. And beating them in their own backyard was all the sweeter again.

Meeting again now 12 months later has raised the stakes again, especially when both sides have such huge ambitions in Munster and beyond. “We said the same thing last year,” said O’Sullivan after Ballygunner hammered Sarsfields two weeks ago. “Two juggernauts coming against each other.” Something has to give. Ballygunner are favourites but they know that, similar to last year, the road to where they really want to go runs straight through Na Piarsaigh.

Over 50 years on, Ardee take on another Goliath in Leinster

When Ardee St Mary’s won the 2017 Louth minor championship, they did so in real style, hammering Geraldines by 23 points in the final. Packed with a cohort of players from the Louth minor team which reached the 2017 Leinster final, that Ardee minor side was so impressive that the future senior ambitions of the club were reflected through their talents.

That talented generation have since gone on to prove as much. When Ardee retained their Louth senior title last month, seven players from that 2017 minor side - Donal McKenny, Liam Jackson, Jonathon Commins, Carl and Conor Gillespie, Ciaran Keenan and Tiarnan Corrigan – featured in the final against Naomh Máirtín.

Last year’s title bridged a 27-year gap but retaining it this year moved St Mary’s up to second in the roll of honour, with 12 titles. When St Mary’s won six senior championships between 1946 and 1960, that dominance coincided with a glorious period for the county team, which yielded four Leinster titles and the 1957 All-Ireland. St Mary’s contributed six players to that Louth squad.

After 1960, St Mary’s didn’t win another title again until 1968 but backed by the four-in-a-row minor winning teams from 1964-1967, the club went on to reach five of the next eight senior finals, winning three.

Lean times later ensued, with St Mary’s relegated to Intermediate in 1983, before returning to senior again in 1987. Only one more senior title followed over the following 35 years (in 1995) before the current generation began to change that trend.

The next step now is to finally make a real mark in Leinster and take down one of the big guns. The closest the club ever came to doing so was, after beating Meath’s Seneschalstown in the 1972 provincial championship, St Mary’s ran St Vincent’s to two points in the Leinster quarter-final. Vincent’s subsequently went on to reach the All-Ireland final.

Over 50 years on, Ardee St Mary’s square off against another Dublin powerhouse, the reigning All-Ireland champions Kilmacud Crokes, in Sunday’s semi-final. It’s a huge ask but St Mary’s won’t have any fear.

Especially the younger players.