Anarchic, madcap, malevolent: Galway-Armagh steals show on quarter-final weekend

A noisy weekend in GAA HQ, four games, one game shouting louder than the rest of them. Louder than the rest of them put together.

The second chapter of a double header is typically pegged as the main event but the Kerry-Mayo game on Sunday felt, in atmospheric terms at least, almost like an over-40s exhibition match tagged on at the end of the county final. All the more so for being delayed by an hour.

Not since 2009 or 2010 has a Mayo championship exit been greeted with such a shrug. The result marked the official end of Horan's second term in charge - he was phlegmatic and courteous in dealing with questions afterwards, though he wouldn't be drawn.

The Armagh-Galway game was so anarchic, so thrilling, so madcap, so malevolent - that the rest of the weekend, from Derry's impressive throttling of Clare, to Kerry ending Mayo's season, felt like an afterthought.

At the end of it all, Galway wound up preserving their 100% championship record against Armagh - after a fashion - and progressing to a first All-Ireland semi-final since 2018.

Leading by six points heading into the elongated period of injury-time in normal time, the Connacht champions proceeded to concede two goals in a remarkable display of panic under the high ball.

In that context, Galway showed impressive mental resolve in extra-time, none more so than the superb Cillian McDaid who slotted home a vital goal before curling over the equalising point right at the death.

And so, 160 minutes after it all began, Matthew Tierney slotted the winning penalty as Galway ran out 4-1 winners in the shootout, booking their place in the All-Ireland semi-final for the first time since 2018.

One of the bigger talking points in the environs of Croker yesterday was the composition of