Morning all. And a very fine morning it is too, even if the weather up here in the metropolis doesn’t look as favourable for football as yesterday, somewhat unexpectedly, turned out to be. I’m still weighing up the choice of following today’s second set of quarter-finals on the box – and seeing as it’s TV3 that’s doing the honours that’s not a bad option – or else strolling down to HQ to see if they’ll let me in to join the fun. The day is, however, but a pup – a slightly hungover one in my case – so I’ve plenty of time yet to decide which option it’s going to be.

Last night did prove to be a late enough one, once I’d digested that beer and the re-run of our demolition job on Down. If anything, our performance appeared more convincing on the box but it must be admitted that Down did look truly shocking at times.

There was a close-up of Mark Poland late on in the game and the frustrated-looking puss he had on him having been obliterated by the magnificent Lee Keegan – I wonder when the national media will eventually wake up to this All-Star in the making? – seemed to personify Down’s day. I’d say the end couldn’t have come soon enough for the poor Mourne County lads.

RTÉ’s performance was, of course, at its usual below-par level. Spillane – as he does every single time he’s let loose – was vomiting forth an utterly nonsensical stream of consciousness babble with the Smirking Simpleton in the chair egging him on while poor old Ciaran Whelan – who I have to say I’m warming to: he’s articulate, fair-minded and sticks to talking about the match that’s being played – was probably wondering why he didn’t opt for a spot on TV3 instead.

Enough of that – I should be talking about match reports and so forth, shouldn’t I? Okay, here we go. Because it’s only Sunday, the match coverage is a bit on the patchy side – there’ll be plenty more, of course, in the papers tomorrow – but here’s what I’ve got for now.

GAA.ie: match report and post-match quotes. Sunday Independent: match report and post-match quotes. Hogan Stand: match report, post-match quotes from James Horan and James McCartan.

Match reports from Mayo Advertiser, RTÉ, BBC, Setanta, Breaking News, The Score.

Match analysis from Emmet on Action81.com (who I’m hoping will be back on here in a few weeks with a tactical preview of our semi-final with the Dubs).

If it’s discussion you want, then there’s plenty of that over at gaaboard.com where they’re both raking over the coals on yesterday’s match and laying the kindling for the All-Ireland semi-final against the Dubs.

Finally, time for another poll – now that we’re in the last four how far are we really going to go this year?