After a summer that seemed to be winding towards a battle for Sam Maguire between the Kingdom and the Dubs, underdogs Mayo and Tyrone have instead set up a novel final.
The Red Hands recorded a shock win over Kerry in the second All-Ireland semi-final on Saturday and will now face perennial runners-up Mayo in the final on 11 September.
Darran O'Sullivan, a four-time All-Ireland winner with Kerry, believes Mayo must learn from his native county's mistakes last weekend if they are to get the better of Tyrone in the decider.
"I think Mayo would have preferred to play Kerry," he told 2fm's Game On.
"With the goals Kerry coughed up yesterday, their running game would have caused Kerry no end of trouble. But they probably will have learned that running and running against Tyrone doesn't work.
"Mayo's game I think would have suited Kerry, I don’t think it will suit Tyrone so they’ll have to come with something different.
"Kerry seemed to have a plan A but no plan B, Mayo will have to mix it up.
"They're going to have to make the pitch big. Find a better use of Aidan O’Shea throughout the game. I think the semi-final would have frustrated him and there’s a big game in him.
"Their best form of attack has always been running but Tyrone are the best at shepherding you into cul de sacs or two or three defenders and then they break at pace.
"But if Tyrone come with that same level of intensity that they did the last day they will be very hard to stop."
"I couldn't believe how poor Kerry were in their decision-making"
O'Sullivan, like the majority of observers, had predicted a comfortable Kerry win but said both teams surprised him on the day.
"I didn't see both performances coming to be honest," he admitted.
"I went into it thinking Tyrone had had four weeks that have been badly interrupted. They hadn’t trained a whole pile as a unit.
"Even though Kerry were a bit stop-start with training, they had five weeks to prepare. We all knew what Tyrone were going to bring, they were going to be well prepared. I just assumed that Kerry would be a in a better place.
"I couldn’t believe how poor Kerry were in their decision-making. There were scores left behind where there could have been goals but there definitely points.
"In the first quarter against Cork, I felt Kerry were impatient and too eager to get goals and throughout the whole game (on Saturday) they came in from angles where the shot at goal probably wasn’t on and there were turnovers.
"But I also couldn’t get over how Tyrone kept up that level of intensity for so long.
"They looked like they were preparing for months. They defended in numbers and selflessly.
"They had their match-ups spot on and they were outstanding on the day."
Speculation is now rising over whether Peter Keane will get a fourth year at the helm in a county where patience for success is traditionally at a premium.
"With water breaks and half-time, you have a lot of time to highlight the mistakes that you’re making and correct them, and Kerry never did," says O'Sullivan.
"Do I think it was all a management issue? No, players will have to take some responsibility because a lot of them played poorly.
"But it is a decision (Kerry) are going to have to make.
"I assume Peter Keane would want one more year with the team, whether he’ll get it is another thing."
