Galway and Mayo pitched into premature death match

After the 1-2-3 in the league and Mayo's rampaging display in Killarney, we were tenatively beginning to speculate on the possibility of an all-Connacht All-Ireland decider.

We had visions of David Brady and Ja Fallon arm wrestling on Up for the Match.

It would have been the Connacht old firm game to end all of them. A chance for Galway to inflict the cruelest blow of all on Mayo, a loss so unbearable that they might finally be persuaded to abandon the decades long quest altogether and embrace the League of Ireland instead. Or for Mayo to claim the sweetest victory of all and put an end to the modern Galway tradition of post-All-Ireland schadenfreude, aka, no more viral Whatsapp voice notes taunting their neighbours.

We now know for sure it won't be a Connacht decider as the Rossies have again taken their leave of the championship just as things were getting serious.

In the bitter aftermath of their costly slip-ups last Sunday, there was a slightly less than 50 percent chance of the two counties being drawn together in the draw, though no one had any respect for the laws of mathematical probability that night.

Regrets? These two have a few. The league finalists were supposed to collide on a grander stage than the preliminary quarter-final, which many don't believe should exist to begin with.

Watch the Salthill showdown between Galway and Mayo this Sunday on @rteone and @rteplayer from 2.40pm #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/K0t3ZroVJT

Galway's stint as power ranking darlings came to an end in the febrile atmosphere of Carrick-on-Shannon last Sunday evening.

With only a draw required, the boys in maroon were nursing possession deep in injury time in line with best practice.

Then John Daly got caught out by the bounce on Peter Cooke's pass