Like the great circus posters of yesteryear, there were plenty of signs around Dublin this weekend that The Greatest Show On Earth was back in town. Tens of thousands of sky blue Dublin fans gathered in Croke Park at four o'clock (ish) to watch the Leinster championships steam through to the All-Ireland semi-final.
Nothing generates feverish excitement and hot air like a Dublin Gaelic football team showing All-Ireland potential and for all the imperfections against Westmeath, there was enough muscle and bustle and fine scoring to convince The Hill and blue-clad stands that glory days beckon. Spirited and organised all championship, Westmeath were simply blown away in the noise and blue persuasion of the day, trailing 1-12 to 0-5 at the end of a second half that was poor enough to allow Paul Caffrey to remain tight-lipped afterwards.
The Dublin manager has done a terrific job with his team and is desperately trying to keep a lid on the hype, hosing cold water on this quarter-final with the kind of gnomic utterances he learned from his old boss Tommy Lyons.
"It's another day over," Caffrey noted tersely. "We're happy to get over it. The football was poor enough for long periods. But that is the way quarter-finals can go."
After Tomás Quinn delivered one of his trademark crafty goals early in the first half for Dublin, some vital part of Westmeath died and they trundled off trailing 1-7 to 0-2 at the break.
Thankfully for the midlands men, Dublin blasted a staggering 22 wides over the 70 minutes. Otherwise, it might have been an embarrassment.
Instead, it merely left Dublin with enough concerns to keep them busy. Caffrey's reticence is understandable. Dublin have reached the penultimate stage of the championship comfortably but, through the luck of the GAA draw, have not been given the opportunity to pit themselves from counties outside of Leinster. They may yet face another familiar team.
Laois and Mayo met yesterday afternoon to produce a novel and thrilling semi-final that acted as a great advertisement for the brand of open football both counties promote. Not for the first time in his 47 years of visiting Jones' Road and maybe not the last, Mick O'Dwyer left Croke Park beaming and vowing to fight another day.
"A terrific game. We cannot wait to get back here for the replay."
Without ever touching the grave, heavyweight significance of the Armagh-Kerry match, this quarter-final did Gaelic football a huge favour. It was clean, fast and full of imagination, with lively forwards like Conor Mortimer from Mayo and Laois's Donie Brennan and Chris Conway at the centre of some joyous attacking passages of play.
Laois have been playing like men possessed for O'Dwyer on what has been a dangerous qualifier run and they came mightily close to extinguishing Mayo's light here. For all their storied black days in Croke Park, however, Mayo showed bravery in spades all through this match and late points from Aidan Kilcoyne and Mortimer earned them a justified second chance.
"And the thing about Mayo is that people say they are chokers," said coach Mickey Moran afterwards.
"We just asked the boys to work on their mental strength, to be strong of mind. And they showed that out there today."
The GAA will confirm the location today but the replay is almost certain to be fixed for Croke Park next Saturday afternoon. It will remain an equally heady call and gives Caffrey plenty to study over the next week or so. To the happy thousands enjoying this latest sky-blue surge, the issue of Laois or Mayo hardly matters. All-Ireland fever is in the air and the mood of goodwill and confidence has spread from the great stadium on Jones' Road through all the parishes of the Liffey. Caffrey, a man who breathes the city game, knows the danger of such happiness.
The weeks ahead will be fascinating.
