Is it just Paranoid Joe at his best, or is it correct to say Louth seniors have become a wee bit overlooked in recent weeks?

They are not yet at the top table, but neither are they serving food to those who are gorging themselves.

The All-Ireland is at the semi-final stage, both games taking place at Croke Park this weekend. The big one, Kerry against Tyrone, is this afternoon, and tomorrow Meath play Donegal.

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Meath are rightly getting kudos for making it this far, commentary centring mainly on their defeats of Dublin, Kerry and Galway. When there is a mention of the Leinster final it’s to say it was a Meath blip.

We, Louth people, should be shouting for Meath, because if the Royals advance to take the title, or maybe just win on Sunday, it will add credence to the Wee County’s provincial success.

But they being neighbours with whom Louth have had quite a few spats – only the hedge preventing them from becoming worse – it might be more beneficial for Meath to look elsewhere for outside support.

Would it concern the green-and-gold flag-wavers that there will be nothing coming from this quarter? Not at all.

The two counties are, and always have been the worst of friends, going as far back as the late 1940s and into the following decade, when Meath emerged from the shadows to win a first All-Ireland, having had a memorable set-to with Louth along the way. Other memorable clashes followed.

No, while acknowledging that Louth were the better team on the day, back on May 11th, Meath probably now see it as one that got away.

They’ve done remarkably well since, and, indeed, before, by beating Dublin, who were going for their 498th title in a row.

And the team coached by another Brennan, Robbie, are not without a chance of going further, even if the bookies think otherwise.

Donegal have been practically unbeatable in Ballybofey, but are maybe not as comfortable elsewhere. It should be an intriguing contest.

Talk about counties not getting on with each other. Waving a Tyrone flag is like a red-and-white rag to a Kerry bull. It goes back to the early part of this century when Tyrone were seeking to get themselves on to the All-Ireland podium for the first time.

Mickey Harte was in charge of the Red Hands, and part of his plan in an effort to get his team among the elite was to make life as difficult as possible for an opposing player when in opposition.

In other words, get three or four around him when he has the ball, making it practically impossible for him to get a pass away, the ploy often leading to what we now know as a turnover.

When it worked in a Tyrone match with Kerry it gave rise to the words ‘puke football’ taking their place alongside the likes of ‘schemozzle’ and ‘leather’ in the GAA lexicon. (Credit: Pat Spillane, former Kerry footballer-turned-pundit.)

Tyrone and Kerry go at it in the other of this weekend’s semi-finals, and, regardless of the result, there’s unlikely to be anyone puking at the end of it.

The game that’s been played since the introduction of the new rules doesn’t allow for as many of those close encounters of a controversial kind, though there are still reminders of them.

But, come to think of it, there are definitely no more schemozzles, the goalkeeper in danger of being bundled into the net. Nor is the thing the players kick around the field known as anything but a ball.

If Kerry bring their quarter-final game with them, they’ll wipe Tyrone off the field. However, replicating what they did in the dethronement of Armagh will be difficult.

Sean O’Shea won’t come up with twelve points and Shane Ryan might not be as good in goals.

David Clifford? Curtailing the best in football today will pose the biggest problem of all for Tyrone. Solving it could get them there; but have they the player, or players, to do the job?