September Road: Did you know this is the Year of the Dog? It's also fast becoming the Year of the Underdog - at least at underage level. There have been some strange goings on in the minor championship - enough to make long-suffering fans of so-called weaker counties believe success is only around the next corner.
In Ulster, the minor football final will be contested between Donegal and Antrim. And the Saffrons earned the chance to win their first title at this level for 24 years the hard way - beating Monaghan, Fermanagh and Armagh, by the narrowest of margins each time.
And several other teams, such as the Roscommon and Tipperary footballers and the Antrim hurlers, have been causing a stir - but none more so than the Carlow minor hurling team.
At the start of this season's Leinster championship, the county that is stuck between the giants of Wexford and Kilkenny lost by a single point to Offaly. An off day for the Faithful County was the consensus. But then the Carlow team proved their quality - taking the scalps of Laois and Westmeath before sensationally knocking Wexford out of the championship, 2-12 to 0-11, at Dr Cullen Park on May 6th.
The shock result earned Carlow a place in the Leinster minor hurling semi-final, and another crack at Offaly.
The team trained like it was an All-Ireland final they were preparing for, and it showed at Portlaoise on Saturday.
Paudie Kehoe and Pádraig Amond ran the Offaly back line ragged. And in a sensational final few minutes, during which the minnows scored 2-1, Carlow gained revenge and, much more importantly, qualified for the Leinster minor hurling final for the first time.
A fantastic result for the county, and for hurling in general.
No one attracts like the Dubs...
There were some high-profile and hugely important games played in various parts of the world at the weekend. Which, do you reckon, boasted the highest attendance?
In soccer, there were four World Cup matches - Germany versus Sweden in Munich (66,000), Argentina versus Mexico in Leipzig (43,000), England versus Ecuador in Stuttgart (52,000) and Netherlands versus Portugal in Nuremberg (41,000). The cricket match between England and Sri Lanka was played at the Riverside Ground (capacity 17,000) at Chester-le-Street. And, in rugby, Argentina hosted the mighty New Zealand in Buenos Aires (39,000), Ireland played Australia in Perth (38,200) and South Africa met France at Cape Town (20,000).
But none of the above could match the Leinster football semi-final between Dublin and Laois at Croke Park - where an incredible 67,970 turned up.
Quote of the Weekend: "Twas nice that at least Cork didn't come up and we would just say thanks, you are going to walk away with a Munster final." - Tipperary hurling manager Michael 'Babs' Keating after the Munster final.
Cruel Joke:
After watching a hurling qualifier in Ennis, Campbell's have decided to launch a new green and white Oxo cube - called "Laughing Stock"
Ballet and hurling? The Ursuline primary school in Thurles, celebrating 50 years in existence, put on a ballet over the weekend. The audience of 1,000 witnessed 20 first-class boys, in Tipp jerseys, dancing and scoring imaginary goals. How Babs could have done with a few more twists and turns by his players at Semple Stadium yesterday. If he introduces pirouettes at training, you'll know where he got the idea.
