It was another exciting weekend of GAA action as the Munster Hurling Championship delivered two more classics, Fermanagh produced a big shock in the Ulster SFC, and football heavyweights Kerry and Galway flexed their muscles.

Here are five of the main talking points from the weekend that was.

1: The hurling championship that keeps on giving

This year’s hurling Championship is proving that you can’t have too much of a good thing.

There was widespread concern that replacing the traditional knock-out format of the provincial championships with a round-robin structure would dilute the intensity of those competitions, but, if anything, the opposite has happened.

Certainly, the Munster Championship has produced classic after classic, with last weekend’s draws between Cork and Limerick and Waterford and Tipperary setting a new high water mark for pure drama.

Based on what we have seen so far this summer, it’s easy to make the argument that the Munster Championship is more competitive now than it’s ever been.

The five competing counties aren’t just evenly matched, they’re all genuine contenders for All-Ireland honours. 

That’s not to say a Munster county will go all the way and lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup this year.

The Leinster Championship hasn’t produced as many thrills and spills so far as we’ve seen in Munster, but that’s because Galway have been so dominant, winning their three matches so far by an average of ten points each.

The reigning All-Ireland Champions look more capable, confident, athletic, and ruthless than they did when winning the Liam MacCarthy Cup last year, and so remain the team to beat.

Such has been the attritional nature of the Munster Championship so far, you’d have to wonder whether the teams that do ultimately progress from the southern province will have enough energy left in their batteries to compete with the turbo-charged Tribesmen.

2: This weekend’s hurling permutations

This weekend is a decisive one in both the Leinster Hurling Championship and the Joe McDonagh Cup, while the picture will also become a lot clearer in Munster after Sunday’s matches between Tipperary and Clare and Limerick and Waterford.

In Leinster, Galway, Wexford, and Kilkenny have all qualified for the knock-out stages of the All-Ireland Championship while Offaly are relegated to the Joe McDonagh Cup for 2019.

The only issue still to be resolved is who will play table-toppers Galway in the Leinster Final, and that will be decided by the meeting of Kilkenny and Wexford in Nowlan Park this Saturday.

A win for either team will secure that Leinster Final place, while a draw would also suffice for Wexford because they have a superior scoring difference to Kilkenny.

It’s all still to play for in Munster where all five teams still have a chance of reaching the Munster Final, though Tipperary and Waterford are very much drinking in the last-chance saloon this weekend.

Tipperary need to beat Clare and Waterford need to beat Limerick to keep their Championship hopes alive.

If they both lose, then Cork, Limerick, and Clare will be assured of progression to the All-Ireland series.

If Tipperary win and Waterford lose, then Waterford are out of the Championship and Tipperary are guaranteed a place in the All-Ireland series and would still have a chance of qualification for a Munster Final, though their poor scoring difference makes that a slim one.

If Tipperary lose and Waterford win, then Tipperary are out of the Championship and the final round of the Munster Championship where Clare play Limerick and Waterford play Cork will decide both the Munster Final pairing and which three teams progress to the All-Ireland series.

If both Tipperary and Waterford win, then all five Munster counties will remain in contention going into the final round. 

Westmeath are already through to the Joe McDonagh Cup Final, but the other final berth as well as relegation will be decided by this weekend’s final round of group matches.

If Carlow beat Westmeath on Saturday then they’ll take that other place in the final, but even though Westmeath are already through to the final themselves, they’ll surely be motivated to avenge their heavy Allianz Hurling League Division 2A Final defeat to Carlow earlier this year.

If Westmeath do manage to beat Carlow then the meeting of Antrim and Kerry in Cushendall becomes a pivotal match. If Antrim win that and Carlow lose to Westmeath, then Antrim will advance to the McDonagh Cup Final.

The clash between Meath and Laois will decide which team retains their McDonagh Cup status and which team will drop down to the Christy Ring Cup for 2019. A win or a draw is good enough for Laois, but only a win will suffice for Meath.

3: Donnelly the hero for Fermanagh

Fermanagh produced the biggest shock of the football championship so far when they beat Monaghan by a point in Sunday’s Ulster SFC semi-final.

To put that achievement into scale, they have never won an Ulster Senior Football Championship, have only previously reached the final five times, and the last time they were there was 10 years ago.

Eoin Donnelly was their last action hero against Monaghan, fisting a high ball to the back of the net in the dying minutes.

It was fitting their captain should provide that moment of inspiration because the 30-year-old has been the beating heart of this Fermanagh for many years now.

He’s had to overcome more than his fair share of set-backs along the way too, including being diagnosed with diabetes and breaking his leg in match back in 2013.

Donnelly is one of the best midfielders in the game, but ultimately Fermanagh have reached the Ulster Final because their team is greater than the sum of its parts.

That’s why team manager Rory Gallagher and assistant-manager Ryan McMenamin also deserve a lot of credit for this achievement.

They’ve developed a style of play and tactical shape that gets the very best from a hard working group of players who have clearly bought into what their management team are telling them.

Winning an Ulster Senior Football Championship would be an incredible achievement when you consider the relatively small number of clubs and players that Fermanagh have to pick from.

They have both the character and tactical smarts to create history whether it’s Donegal or Down they play in the Final on June 24.

4: Kerry’s kids are alright

Before the ball was thrown in, you would have backed Clare to give Kerry a difficult afternoon in Sunday’s Munster SFC semi-final.

The Banner County have traditionally done so in the past and performed well in Division Two of the Allianz Football League this year.

Throw the fact that Kerry were fielding seven Championship debutants into the equation and you figured that at the very least it might take them some time to break a more seasoned Clare outfit down.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. The game was over by half-time with Kerry leading by 0-16 to 0-4, and they had doubled that score by full-time, hitting a record tally of 32 points.

11 players contributed to that total, with teenagers Sean O’Shea and David Clifford chipping in with a combined nine points.

Clare were poor, but this was still a hugely impressive performance by a young Kerry that bodes well not just for the remainder of the Championship, but for many years to come.

5: Galway flex their muscles

The Galway footballers are evolving very quickly before our eyes.

The defensive durability was the big take-away from an impressive Allianz Football League Division 1 campaign that saw them reach the Final where they gave Dublin a good run for their money.

But they also have the ability to play a more expansive game and really cut loose in attack as they proved in Sunday’s 4-24 to 1-12 Connacht SFC semi-final victory over Sligo.

What really caught the eye on Sunday was the interplay of Damien Comer and Ian Burke in a two-man Galway full-forward line where they hit a combined tally of 3-4 from play.

Burke didn’t play during the League for Galway because he was on club duty with Corofin, and he definitely adds a new dimension to the Tribesmen attack with his vision and clinical finishing.

Sean Kelly also impressed in the Galway attack against Sligo, scoring 1-2 from play. Like Burke, he had only featured as a sub in the quarter-final win over Mayo.

Galway’s depth in attack was further underlined on Sunday when Michael Daly was sprung from the bench.

Their break-out star of last year’s Championship, he’s been sidelined this year with a knee injury but is back to full fitness now and will be a serious option for the remainder of the Championship.

So, as much as Galway’s rise to prominence this year has been based on a solid defence, it looks like they’re still evolving and have the footballers to also execute a more expansive game-plan.

“There’s Plan As, Plan Bs and Plan Cs out there,” said Galway manager Kevin Walsh after Sunday’s victory.

“And sometimes you may not play the game you want to when you’re forced by the opposition to do something else. And that’s part of the trick.

“We’ll do what we feel is right as much as we can and hopefully it’s the right thing to be done and take our positions.

“And depending on how the game will pan out at different times, you give different instructions. I don’t overly listen to people who haven’t their homework done.”