It’s a big day in the Gaelic football year, what with the first full house of the year at Croke Park, and our lads have a major assignment on their hands when they take on Ulster champions Tyrone in the curtain raiser (throw-in 1.30 pm).

The Red Hand youngsters deserve their status as favourites but this is far from a no-hope assignment for our lads. If we are to prevail, we’ll need an improved showing around the middle and will, once again, be expecting a large return from our star player, Cillian O’Connor.

We have plenty of experience at this level in recent years and although we eventually lost out to today’s opposition in the replayed 2008 decider, everyone who was at the drawn final that year knows full well that we left that one behind us. It would, then, be more than a little appropriate if Tony Duffy’s charges were to settle this particular score on the way to sealing our third minor final appearance on the trot. You can do it, lads – now go and prove it. Come on the Green and Red.