Weather warning: Condensed calendar hampered by climate

As the ball was about to be thrown in by Conor Lane for Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final between Glen and Kilmacud Crokes at Páirc Esler, Dublin manager Dessie Farrell - baseball hat on as always - squeezed through the packed crowd on the terrace side and took up a position around the 45-metre line on the scoreboard end.

Farrell would have been eager to find out how some of his county contingent would perform in one of the most highly-anticipated club games of recent times, but there was one major problem – he could barely see Paul Mannion in the first half.

Doing his work mostly down in the far corner in front of the stand, Mannion was a ghost to the terrace side in that opening half hour. Indeed, when Mark O’Leary put the All-Ireland champions two points ahead in the fifth minute, many on that side hadn’t realised a score had been registered until the cheer from the stand informed them.

Páirc Esler was in fantastic shape thanks to the work of groundsman Paul Rafferty and his team, and the players deserve immense credit for producing a brilliant encounter. However, the game was played in near farcical circumstances with freezing fog drifting in from the town end throughout.

It was played though and Glen edged out the Dublin side, securing an All-Ireland final date with Connacht champions St Brigid’s in the process.

Earlier in the day in Thurles, the Roscommon outfit had beaten Cork’s Castlehaven in another encounter that couldn’t escape conversation about whether it should have proceeded or not.

The TG4 cameras were there to capture the action and they beamed back images of a real Irish summer pitch – half covered in brilliant sunshine and half covered in a frost that lay on the turf throughout. Slippage was almost non