By the time I got into Croke Park all the good seats in the media tribune were taken.

I ended up sitting beside a chap from Kerry GAA.

I got my Tyroneness out of the way in the introductions, responding to his query by stating that I was from ‘near Dungannon’.

‘Sure that could be anywhere,’ he replied, looking a little peeved.

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Besides having to get him to repeat everything he said, our conversation after that was cordial throughout, apart from one other moment of consternation and confusion.

He uttered an unintentional slander by mixing up the awful Jeffrey Donaldson with a former British and Irish Lion associated with my hometown who happens to share the initials of that hypocritical pervert.

I corrected my new pal from Kerry immediately and we enjoyed watching a thrilling All-Ireland SFC quarter-final between our two counties.

Genuinely, we never argued once about any of the refereeing and officiating decisions.

After Kerry’s win I shook his hand and wished the Kingdom well for the rest of the Sam Maguire Cup. It’s always better, if you have to lose, to lose to the eventual winners, is my theory.

It was only afterwards that heated debate broke out about two or three calls which went against Tyrone.

It’s beyond dispute that Kerry should........

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