BEFORE the pandemic we probably took aspects of this profession for granted.

While eight counties keep their focus on their forthcoming provincial finals, and the prospect of the All-Ireland semi-finals, the rest must think about next year - and beyond.

THINK of Clones and your mind drifts away to Ulster Championship battles on hot summer Sundays.

IT was somewhere around the middle of spring 2008 I met Aidan O’Rourke in the heart of Newry for an interview.

IT has been a long number of years since I could make plans for both a Saturday and Sunday safe in the knowledge that there isn’t a match or match preparation to be considered and, without rubbing salt into neighbouring counties' wounds, it is great.

FORM is permanent, class is temporary? Euro 2020 provided that twist on the usual order of those words, certainly regarding the final day and its aftermath.

Ah here lookit, sure it’s hard to believe that the Trí Leoin are getting so close to winning this oul’ Henri Delaunay [Henry Delaney] Trophy that you can almost smell, feel and taste the next 55-odd years of smug BBC reminders on Football Focus, the Antiques Roadshow and everything else in between.

FROM the opening night in Rome and the front-footed Italians cutting a dash against Turkey, there was an instantly good feeling about Euro 2020, unforgettably delayed by a year because of the global pandemic.

COMPILING a list of your all-time best players is a purely self-indulgent, subjective exercise.

“This big fella was winnin’ every ball that came in, he was destroying us.

AS a county, where do Down go now? Donegal had last weekend’s Ulster Championship prelimary round match won by half-time and while you could argue that Jamie Brennan took too many steps, this was a game Declan Bonner's men never looked in danger of losing.

IT is often said that sport can take over your life and this is certainly true of our social lives but how much can sport, specifically participation at county level, take over our career and work life too? For over 13 years, my life revolved around GAA.

WITH so many schoolchildren having to self-isolate over the past number of weeks because of COVID outbreaks, schools have been using Public Health Agency [PHA] messaging to help guide parents and guardians on the do’s and don’t’s.

WHEN we finally got down to the nitty-gritty, we knew Jack Grealish and Declan Rice were never going to declare for Republic of Ireland.

Put yourself in the boots of the Tyrone players.

THE excitement and buzz that a short season brings is tangible - every team going for it, all or nothing, no back door and no reprieve for a bad day at the office, it’s an exciting time for our games.