The bags are packed, the munchkins are already tucked up in bed and the taxi is booked to turn up at a ridiculously early hour of the morning tomorrow. This can only mean one thing and it does, for sure it does – we’re decamping to Italy for two whole weeks.

I know, I know – this does mean that I’ll miss the Connacht final but, as regular readers will know, I’ve more than once in recent years had the family holiday arranged around the football so it’s only fair to do it the other way round on this occasion. Of course, with WiFi now as easily available as porter, I won’t exactly be out of the loop for the next while and I’m sure I’ll be tuning into Midwest for the match on Sunday week.

If we win, I can return home pretending I did the Kerryman on it and, if we don’t, I’ll be back in time for the Round 4 qualifier match the following Saturday. In the meantime, though, there’s rather a lot of beer and pizza to get through. Arrivederci!