8 things to look for in the Super 8s Showdown

by Declan Bogue 

1.There's football on this weekend. It might be the most glorious time ever to be a fully paid-up member of the hurling snobbery ranks, but God dammit, FOOTBALL HAS TO HIT BACK!

Or at least, that would be the position of many football people, who feel like the Cuckquean in the 'Distracted Boyfriend' meme, with the casual GAA fan checking out hurling, pursing the lips and saying, 'I fancy me a piece of that.'

2.The Super Saturday vibe to it all. Oh, but if the GAA were not curiously addicted to having a final, or, even worse, a four-team play-off for every competition, then our league competitions could have the thrill of a league trophy to-ing and fro-ing between venues as the destination is being played out.

Unlikely as we are to ever have that situation, this is the first time in GAA Championship that the outcome of one team's fortunes are affected by the performance of another's. It's an added layer of intrigue and will lead to people simultaneously keeping track of events in Salthill and Killarney on Saturday evening.

3.Which bring us into the whole area of double-screening as a concept. By now you will have heard of somebody watching a match in a tournament on their widescreen telly, while keeping a laptop or an iPad in front of them. Apparently it was big during the little-known soccer World Cup recently.

And now, the GAA gets to enter the 21st Century kicking and screaming as the mental arithmetic gets a testing and - and we are going to go a bit Sun newspaper here - the Sky Sports 'boffins' keep us updated as to the various permutations.

4. Can Galway win when playing a full compliment?

It's a fair question to ask, especially in the light of Daniel Flynn's red card while playing for Kildare in the last round, trying to break free from some off the ball holding.

The bare facts are that against Tyrone in the league opener, Darren McCurry was gone on a straight red after a mere 24 minutes.

The two O'Connor brothers, Cillian and Diarmuid, were sent off for Mayo when they met Galway in the league. Cillian also saw red in  the Connacht quarter-final.

Dublin's Niall Scully was sent off with twenty minutes to go in the league final.

Killian Young of Kerry was dismissed in the closing stages of their league game.

And Monaghan were matching Galway stride for stride in the league game before Fintan Kelly was dismissed on the half hour mark, for something manager Malachy O'Rourke described as trying to break free from his man.

It's some record, especially when there is no disputing facts.

5.Ballybofey and the record.

45 years it's been since Tyrone last beat Donegal on their preferred patch of Ballybofey. Only, they hadn't met in something like 40 years at that venue, showing how statistics are so vulnerable to manipulation.

That Donegal haven't been beaten in Pairc MacCumhaill in league and Championship takes away from their quite wretched record in O'Donnell Park, Letterkenny, where they play some league games, along with Fr Tierney Park in Ballyshannon.

6. Have Kerry ever looked as vulnerable?

With Galway accounting for them in the first game and then requiring a genius intervention from Kieran Donaghy and David Clifford to earn a scarcely-deserved draw against Monaghan, it would be tempting to talk about them listing on the ropes if they didn't have a beaten docket in Kildare up this Saturday.

It was manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice's comments after that Monaghan game that causes most alarm however, after being taken for 1-7 by Conor McManus.

"If we had someone back in front of McManus he might not have scored as much but maybe we might not have scored as much either, so you play each game on its merit," he said.

Plenty of former team mates of Fitzmaurice have put together nice little careers in the media in recent years. Every one of them to a man have referenced how in the best Kerry days, they would 'Hammer the Hammer.'

Is that all out the window now?

7. Home advantage in last ties - let's see how much they count for now.

When I am King and all will bow and scrape before me, I will have the neutral ground round as the concluding round. Note: This will not be in Croke Park.

8. What happens a game of Gaelic football when literally nothing is at stake? It's the first time it has happened in Championship football, so if that oddity interests you at all, then keep an eye on Dublin and Roscommon.

In fact, do it for all of us.