July is drawing to a close and we're fast progressing towards the business end. It's all Croker from now til September. Even in flat years, Cork would usually be involved in at least one code at this point.
Not this time around. The Cork footballers and hurlers were both emphatically dumped out of the championship in what was a traumatic weekend for Cork GAA.
The Galway hurlers were even allowed rack up a normally ruinous number of wides and still won the game at a canter - one can see that in the number of puckouts was Anthony Nash was forced to hit.
The two raiders from the qualifiers dispatched despondent provincial finalists, Kildare claiming their first win over Division 1 opposition in five years and Fermanagh reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since 2004.
And in the opening hurling quarter-final on Sunday, Waterford's renaissance gathered more pace as they dealt with a spirited Dublin side.
