NEW Ulster and Connacht Senior Football Champions Donegal and Mayo something in common: no one really expects either one to go on and capture the All-Ireland crown.
But that's not going to bother them as they celebrate hard-earned victories. Both came good in the second half to win their respective provincial crowns, Donegal dispatching Derry by 1-11 to 0-8 in Clones, while Mayo saw off Roscommon by 0-13 to 0-11 at Dr Hyde Park.
They will now look forward to the All-Ireland quarter-finals knowing that they have to keep improving. But, to be fair to both camps, they have already made important strides in the right direction.
Take Donegal. They were ridiculed following their 1-10 to 0-7 opening round Ulster Championship success over Antrim on May 15.
Mayo, for their part, were lambasted following a 0-19 to 2-10 extra time success over London in the first round of the Connacht Championship at Ruislip on May 29.
Both have responded positively, particularly Donegal who have gone on to defeat Cavan, Tyrone, and now Derry to capture their first Ulster title since 1992. Much of the credit clearly must go to manager Jim McGuinness.
It is, after all, just over a year since they were hammered in a qualifying match by Armagh. No one saw much of a future for them at that stage.
But somehow McGuinness has managed to turn things around. Much has been made of his policy of getting as many players as possible behind the ball, but that's not going to unduly worry their supporters in the attendance of 28,364 at Clones.
Those fans have seen Donegal suffer five five final defeats since that last Ulster Championship success 19 years ago. Anyway, there's a lot more to this Donegal team than getting men behind the ball.
They are quite capable of delivering in attack with one of the best forwards around in skipper Martin Murphy. Fittingly, it was Murphy who scored the all-important goal from the penalty spot and then went up to take the Anglo Celt Cup.
Predictably, the absence of Eoin Bradley because of injury didn't help the Derry attack. That said, they must have hoped to have done much better than score just eight points.
The reality is that their attack struggled against the close Donegal marking. It was disappointing for veteran Derry manager John Brennan who felt very strongly that Murphy's penalty should not have been awarded.
There's no doubt that Maurice Deegan's decision to award it two minutes into the second half was a major turning point. The sides were level at 0-5 apiece when the impressive Michael Hegarty sent in a long ball in the direction of Murphy.
After Derry goalkeeper Danny Devlin rushed out, the two men clashed and Deegan awarded a penalty. What really annoyed the Derry camp was that the referee was a long way from the incident and, in their view, in no position to make such an important call.
A fuming Brennan didn't hold back in his criticism, stating: "I had a better view that the referee. He awarded the penalty and he was over 60 meters away.
"Our goalkeeper comes out, their forward runs into him and they get a penalty? He was asked to consult his umpires and refused to. I don't care if it's breaking GAA rules. We should be allowed to ask the referee why he awards something."
Well, plenty of the Derry players did, arguing that Murphy had made a real meal of the situation. Either way, it didn't bother the Donegal captain as he got to his feet and thumped an unstoppable penalty past Devlin.
To add to Derry's frustration, Murphy then set up points for Colm McFadden and Hegarty to push Donegal five points clear. From then on they were never in danger of being caught, although Derry felt they should have had a penalty for a foul on substitute Emmet McGuckin five minutes from time.
That, needless to say, also didn't please Brennan, the Derry manager later arguing that his team could have had two penalties. Unsurprisingly, his opposite number McGuinness wasn't getting involved in the Laois referee's decisions.
Much better to concentrate on his own team's performance. "It's down to the players." he argued. "They've worked hard, they've knuckled down. It's the same group of players who came in for an awful lot of criticism."
While Donegal can now look forward to a quarter-final, Derry only have six days to recover for their tough fourth round qualifier against high flying Kildare. Yet again, that's not something that exactly pleases Brennan.
Down at Dr. Hyde Park, the defeated Roscommon manager Fergal O'Donnell was much more pragmatic. After seeing his team lose by just two points (0-13 to 0-11) to Mayo. He admitted that "Mayo were a bit stronger and deserved their success."
O'Donnell was, however, disappointed with his Roscommon's performance when they had the advantage of the elements in the first half. The fact is that in such atrocious conditions they needed a big lead by half-time.
As it was, they has to settled for a 0-9 to 0-5 advantage. Donie Shine did his bit, finishing with eight points, four of which were from frees, but generally Roscommon overdid the short passing game.
Frees weren't exactly easy in such conditions but Mayo were fortunate to have Cillian O'Connor in their line-up. The 19-year-old finished with 0-8, all of which were from frees.
Quite rightly, he got the man of the match award, as his work around the field was also excellent. He picked off his chances superbly as Roscommon struggled to launch an attack against the wind in the second period.
Indeed, they landed just two second-half points as an improving Mayo wore them down. Their prize is a quarter-final spot, while Roscommon must face the winners of Tyrone and Armagh in the fourth round of the qualifiers.
Mayo manager James Horan was well pleased, saying: "Although we were four points down at half-time, I was not unduly worried. We were dominating possession and winning breaking ball, so we felt that the chances would come when we had the wind advantage."
What though of his decision to give the free taking duties to 19-year-old O'Connor? "We had four or five guys working hard on frees, but Cillian was kicking well and feeling comfortable. So, he took them."
Armagh win replay at Aughrim
THERE were no real surprises in the qualifiers, with Kildare, Down, Limerick and Armagh overcoming their rivals.
While the big game of the day was undoubtedly Kildare's 2-11 to 0-14 victory over arch-rivals Meath at Navan, the potential story was down at Aughrim. It was there, last Saturday evening, that 75-year-old Mick O'Dwyer attempted to extend his time as Wicklow manager with a second round qualifier replay victory.
But the evening ended in disappointment, mainly because of the efforts of Armagh's brilliant young forward Jamie Clarke. He finished with two goals and two points to help Armagh secure a 2-9 to 0-10 victory.
Afterwards O'Dwyer expressed his satisfaction with his time at Wicklow, but he was unable to confirm what he is going to do next. All the great Kerryman could say is that he hopes to be involved at some level.
Could it be that, despite his advanced years, he will take up the manager's job at another county? "You never know. That is another day's work," came the response.
Armagh's reward is a third round qualifying match against Tyrone next weekend with the winners meeting the defeated Connacht finalists Roscommon on July 30.
Kildare continue to be one county most would prefer to avoid. Once again, it was their second half performance which saw them get the better of Meath.
Meath made a real match of it in front of their home fans, there was an estimated 20,000 at Pairc Tailteann. The game was in the balance with the sides level at 0-12 each in the second half.
But 1-2 in three minutes for Kildare decided the game. The man mainly responsible was wing-back Emmet Bolton who scored a goal and a point in that period, with the other point coming from Ronan Sweeney.
Bolton was helped by the fact that the player he was marking Seamus Kenny had gone off injured but he deserved great credit for the way he took the opportunity to join the attack.
But there were other worthwhile contributions, most notably from substitute James Kavanagh. Whatever it is about the qualifiers, Kildare seem to be particularly suited by them.
They now have an unbeaten run in the series stretching back four years. "You don't really have much choice, you either stand up or lie down" stressed manager Kieran McGeeney.
Meath had some good displays themselves, Cian Ward finishing with 0-8, but they came up just short once again against their great rivals. They could argue that they were unlucky with the injury to Kenny and that John Doyle's early penalty was a bit fortunate, but the truth is that Kildare deserved their victory.
Next up it's defeated Ulster finalists Derry in what should be another interesting occasion to assess Kildare's progress. But there's no doubt where the match of the day is in the fourth round of the qualifiers next weekend.
That will be the meeting of Cork and Down in a repeat of last year's All-Ireland final. Down beat Antrim 3-13 to 0-10 at Casement Park to get that chance of revenge over the reigning All-Ireland champions.
To date in this year's campaign, Down have been some way short of their best but, importantly, they are getting better. A three goal second half blitz in nine minutes put an end to Antrim's chances.
One goal was better than the next as Down combined brilliantly. First Conor Laverty waltzed through the defence, before Marty Clarke and substitute Caolan Mooney added two more goals with fiercely struck shots.
Benny Coulter, who finished with two points, was a major contributor in two of the goals. Elsewhere, Limerick qualified to face Wexford by accounting for Waterford by 0-14 to 0-9 at the Gaelic Grounds.
But this was far from straightforward. For one thing, Waterford saw the referee Cormac Reilly award them a penalty only to then change his mind after talking to the umpires.
Unsurprisingly, Waterford boss John Owens found it a bit strange, as he thought it was a definite penalty. Furthermore, Owens felt that the decision to send Gary Hurney off in the second half was harsh.
Either way, Limerick took advantage to move clear, Shannon rugby wing Stephen Kelly finishing with seven points. Manager Maurice Horan was pleased with the way his team stuck to their task but admitted that they weren't at their best.
