Finally, 10 weeks after the ball was thrown in for the 2022 Championship, the competition hots up this weekend.

And having been such regulars at the semi-final and final stage over the past number of years, the Mayo-Kerry game is the one that jumps out most, even allowing for my obvious bias.

Kerry are strong favourites to not only win this game but to go all the way and Jack O'Connor's return has gone perfectly according to plan so far; they've won the League and Munster at a canter and are now looking for three big performances to land the big one.

READ MORE:Kerry legend Aidan O'Mahony doesn't think Kingdom would lose six finals in a row like Mayo

There looks to be an edge about Kerry that wasn't apparent in the last few years.

Doubts have hovered around their defence, along with accusations of a soft centre, for a few years now but they've answered all of those to date. The big tests start now, however.

Paddy Tally will have been honing their defensive structure since last December purely with the big days in Croke Park in mind.

Tadhg Morley has been very effective in protecting the D, with only two goals conceded in 10 League and Championship games. For the most part, the opposition has allowed Morley to play that role by dropping their centre-forward deep, thereby eliminating that player as a scoring threat.

Will Mayo be brave enough to employ a No 11 that will force Morley out of his comfort zone? Someone like Ryan O'Donoghue, if he's fit, or maybe Darren McHale? These are players that will make and take scoring chances.

Aidan O'Shea could play there either, while another option is to play a seventh defender as a nominal centre-forward and have him mirror Morley's role in front of the Mayo full-back line. Whatever they come up with, Mayo must get their defensive structure right.

Traditionally, that would start with a high press but without Tommy Conroy and a doubt over O'Donoghue's fitness, Mayo's forward unit is not as well equipped to stop Kerry high up the pitch.

They may revert to dropping to the Kerry 45 and try to condense the pitch, possibly leaving the likes of Graham O'Sullivan and Jason Foley to carry out the ball. This would enable them to possibly set traps and bring Kerry down channels where Mayo can get numbers around the ball, while also giving them time to set up their sweeper.

Kerry's front six are the best in the country. The possible match-ups between them and the Mayo defence are mouthwatering. Realistically, for Mayo to be in with a chance they need to keep Kerry to a maximum of 17 points.

Kerry destroyed Mayo in the League final but they won't be so lacking in pace and power around the middle this time with the return of Paddy Durcan, Oisín Mullin, Eoghan McLaughlin and Diarmuid O'Connor in particular.

Ultimately, the biggest question coming into the game is this: are Kerry undercooked? They'll be hoping to reject that emphatically.

Overall, Mayo's form this year hasn't been good but I think there is a big performance in them.

And, presuming they find it, it will be too much for Kerry to handle.

King Con to lead Dublin into the last four

Dublin's Con O'Callaghan and Thomas Clancy of Cork

Ten years ago, a Dublin-Cork fixture at this stage of the Championship would have been a thrilling prospect.

But right now Cork are nowhere near the level of Dublin. Yes, they ran Kerry close for 50 minutes and no doubt will set up very similarly to how they did in that game again today.

But keeping things tight against a top team in Páirc Uí Rinn and Croke Park are worlds apart. There will be more space for the Dublin forwards to operate in and they are likely to break Cork's resistance far earlier than Kerry did.

Cork simply don't have the pace, power or class to stick with a Dublin team that have certainly found their form. They'll be happy to keep the scoreline respectable.

Dublin have their ruthless streak back. They are moving the ball much quicker and getting it to their danger men in the right areas and reaping the rewards.

It can't be underestimated how much of a difference the return of Con O'Callaghan has made to this team. Suddenly the whole forward unit looks like it is operating to the levels of two or three years ago.

On paper, this is a good draw for Dublin but time will tell as to whether it will leave them cold going into a semi final against either Kerry or Mayo.

But, for now, they just have to make sure they get there and I believe they will. Comfortably.

All rest and no play leaves Galway vulnerable to resurgent Armagh

The odds for the four quarter-finals point to Galway-Armagh as being the tightest of the four.

It's a huge opportunity for Galway. Their performances in the All-Ireland series have generally been underwhelming for 20-odd years now and given how the draw has opened up, they need to make the most of it.

Can they finally get big displays out of Shane Walsh and Damien Comer in particular on the biggest stage?

I'm intrigued as to how they'll approach it. Will they try to counteract Armagh's direct kicking style by dropping their two-wing backs around the 'D' as they did against Mayo? Armagh are not afraid to kick to areas where their forwards are outnumbered and trust their ball-winning ability.

The match-ups will be fascinating. It is likely that Rian O'Neill will be tagged by Sean Kelly, with Aidan Forker and James Morgan going head-to-head with Comer and Walsh.

I expect Croke Park to be a sea of orange - Kieran McGeeney's side have gained serious momentum over the last month while Galway have been left idle.

That could be enough to swing this in Armagh's favour.

Derry can wrap up Sexton and seal semi spot

The most unlikely quarter-final pairing of the four is undoubtedly Derry and Clare.

I don't expect that it will be the prettiest either as Derry won't change their approach, despite their tag of favourites, and I expect Clare to mirror them in how they set up.

But with Keelan Sexton likely to be marshalled by Chrissy McKaigue, it's hard to see where their scores are going to come from.

I expect Derry to prevail but this could be a lot closer than most people think.

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