Meath football has finally come in from the wilderness and the county is buzzing with expectation.
I discovered as much at my sister-in-law's wedding in Kilmessan the other week, where the barmen only wanted to talk football. The place is bedecked with colour and the sense of anticipation is infectious.
It's great to see a traditional football county with their history and fanbase back in the big-time, after so many years of abject misery.
They've spent the summer proving people wrong. The Dublin win was historic and widely celebrated but the commentary afterwards was partly driven by how far the Dubs had fallen.
The shock win over Kerry was framed primarily as a 'Kerry in crisis' story in the aftermath with Darragh Ó Sé telling us that the prevailing mood down there was that they were as well off out of the thing. I understand that the pessimists have done a 180 on that since then.
Now that Galway are sunk in a knockout game, people are properly on board with the idea that Meath are back.
Surely, we can't write them off again?
Well... it's hard to overlook Donegal's experience and know-how.
Sunday's semi-final presents us with a clash of styles in many respects. Donegal's hard-running game based on 'repeat sprintability' coming up against a Meath team who are much more inclined to kick the ball direct, particularly in transition.
I'm not sure that Meath have come up against a challenge like Donegal yet this season. The Ulster champions have a relentlessness and a ferocity this season that Galway lacked.
Donegal have too many runners for Meath to contain. If it's not Peadar Mogan, it's Ryan McHugh. If it's not McHugh, it's Finbarr Roarty. If it's not Roarty, it's Ciaran Moore... and so on.
Both teams carry a serious two-point threat - even if they dried up for Meath the last day. Galway's two-point form tapered off as the season wore on but Donegal have Ciaran Thompson, Michael Langan and Michael Murphy prowling around, all of whom can swing them over.
Galway were passive and static in the first half the last day, a trait which really cost them come the finish. Donegal won't let Meath off the hook on that. The heat will be turned up.
It's been a break-out season for Meath. Jordan Morris and Mathew Costello have been sensational in attack. Sean Rafferty has been a bulwark in defence. Conor Gray ruled the skies in the second half against Galway.
But this is new territory for this generation of Meath footballers. Donegal have experienced players that have been around the block, with plenty of medals behind them. And if they get into a lead early, they won't let up.
The other semi-final looks an open-and-shut case to me.
Put simply, Kerry have looked far better than Tyrone in most aspects.
Kerry's biggest challenge may be managing and navigating the hype since the Armagh performance. It can be psychologically tricky to arrive into a game in the wake of delivering a near perfect display. Rarely in those circumstances do you see a team bring their A-game.
The closest we had to that was in 2013, after we devoured Donegal in the quarter-final. We were heavy favourites going into the semi-final against a Tyrone team who were really in a transitional phase and weren't regarded as a serious All-Ireland contenders at the start of the year.
We played very poorly in the first half and were losing at half-time. We eventually burned them off and won by six but that was mainly down to a strong finish.
Kerry have that same predicament this week. They also have injury issues with Diarmuid O'Connor and Tom O'Sullivan ruled out.
Tyrone are kings of the Under-20 grade and have a new generation of stars coming. But for now, their seniors remain an enigma.
Their quarter-final win owed as much to Dublin's dreadful shooting than it did their own brilliance. Dublin had most of the play in the first half but Tyrone kept their nose in front thanks to a glut of two-pointers. Darragh Canavan was kept quiet and Darren McCurry had a poor enough game.
Then Dublin imploded in front of goal in the second half, as they did against Armagh, and Tyrone, who were better in the tackle after half-time, capitalised late on, with young Eoin McElholm scoring an inspirational point down the stretch.
Tyrone did ambush Kerry at this stage four years ago when we all assumed they were ravaged with Covid and were doing well to tog out at all. But then people forget that Kerry completely smashed them in the quarters two years ago.
It seems inconceivable that the Kerry forward line will blow the kind of opportunities that Dublin were offered the last day. They have too many high-grade weapons in attack - we know the names - and too many of their forwards are in form.
As is often the way, I wouldn't anticipate a Kerry performance on the level of their quarter-final showing. For various reasons - internal criticism and last year's semi-final loss - motivations were at such a pitch for the Armagh game and probably can't be replicated for this Saturday's game.
But a decent performance from Kerry should see them get home on a four-to-six point margin against a Tyrone side who are still plagued with inconsistency.
Before that there's the Tailteann decider.
Kildare supporters will feel they probably shouldn't be in the Tailteann but that's where their performances have landed them over a number of years.
But there's a huge carrot for them there this weekend. Meath were in this showpiece two years ago and looked where they've landed. Even last year's winners Down were highly competitive in the Sam Maguire this season.
They've had setbacks in 2025 but Brian Flanagan has done a decent job. They've secured promotion back to Division 2, even if they had some wobbles down the back-end of the league.
They took out Westmeath in Leinster and now have worked their way to the Tailteann decider.
Their semi-final victory over Fermanagh won't be appearing in too many All-Ireland Gold re-runs, let's be honest. No one, bar the chaps doing opposition analysis, will be seeking out the tape of the game. 1-13 to 0-08 is really an amazingly low scoreline under the new rules.
But it was job done and Kildare only have one hurdle left.
Limerick have had a brilliant year under Jimmy Lee. Division 4 champions and 10 wins and two losses in 2025. But you've got to imagine Kildare will be a bridge too far.
Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship semi-finals with RTÉ Sport. Kerry v Tyrone on Saturday from 4.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player and Meath v Donegal on Sunday from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow live blogs on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to commentaries on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch highlights on The Sunday Game at 10.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
