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This has been among the most engaging and electrifying GAA summers of my lifetime. Wrote this for last Saturday, imagining the detonation of joy and belonging if Louth GAA could follow in the upstart footsteps of earlier inspiring pathfinders. It was so much better than imagined.

Sunshine can make a city - a town, a village, a lonesome rural field - drunk with joy. It lifts the clouds from faces and conversations. Ireland looks gorgeous in Mediterranean light. A lovely injection of happiness. What a glorious and uplifting May this has been.

Anton O'Toole. Dublin's finest. The Blue Panther fell six years ago today. A selfless, shining genius. A giant of Hill 17, 1983, Cork. Appropriate Dublin on the championship road on another scorching day. A superb footballer. Different class as a human being. A titan. A friend

It's Mediterranean summer holiday scorching in Salthill. Incredibly warm.

Stunning by Dublin. Ciaran Kilkenny rolling back the years. A leadership masterclass. Coming of age performance from Lorcan O'Dell. Gutsy, resilient, enduring champion class. Magic in the Salthill Med.

Salthill 16

Cian Lynch. Mozart and Michelangelo of hurling. A genius. A maker of magic. Limerick looking awesome.

A Galway weekend offered a reminder of a special town's bottomless glories. The magical buzz of a Shop Street Saturday. An array of Allstar bars. Taaffes Bar might be the reason porter and pubs were invented. Second only to the peerless Ciaran Kilkenny in its towering brilliance.

Ciaran Kilkenny. A Dublin athlete as a supreme, selfless leader. My late Mam used to say: "When it isn't easy, that's when it matters." Like James McCarthy (v Kerry) in 22, the greats find a way. A week on, Ciaran's display is as great as I have ever seen. Unbending.

GAA+ exists to promote its games (apparently) All-Ireland champs presently facing last year's league champs. And no coverage of Armagh v Derry anywhere. No other sport on earth would wilfully hide its champions The level of self-sabotage is mind-boggling.

Michael Gaine's death is horrendous. Unconscionable. For the many of us who love Kerry and are blessed to spend unforgettable days in the Kingdom (often in Mike's hinterland of Kenmare and Moll's Gap) it feels grotesque. A column on a good man And evil beyond words.

I'm backing San Fransico to beat the South Sea Islands in this year's All-Ireland football final. Donegal and Galway beaten in back to back weeks. Has to be the most democratic and compelling and impossible to predict championship in a huge number of years

A column on how famine, emigration, football and blood forged profound and enduring bonds between Ireland and the city of Liverpool.

Mayo... Eight up on Tyrone at ht. Bonkers.

After the darkest week, a ridiculously great win for Mayo. Paddy Durcan is a class act. Aidan O'Shea was exceptional in key moments. This championship is nuts.

A piece on Ciaran Kilkenny. One of the giants of 21st century Gaelic football. His towering masterclass of leadership against Galway reawakened Dublin's All-Ireland challenge. And offered a powerful reminder of the six-time Allstar's selfless brilliance.

With friends at Dubs Armagh yesterday A reminder the game is but a fraction of the whole. To me, GAA championship is priceless social vitamin. Meeting great pals and complete strangers. A wash of Irishness Drinking pints, singing songs. A lovely summer celebration of identity