After winning their provincial championships, Kerry, Dublin and Derry topped their round-robin Super 16s groups to reach the quarter-finals stage despite not looking altogether convincing.
Kerry suffered a home defeat defeat by Mayo in their group stage opener but after an unimpressive narrow win over neighbours Cork, a thumping success over Louth saw them snatch top spot in Group One after Mayo were shocked by Cork in their final round-robin match.
However Kerry looked right back to their very best as they thumped a fancied Tyrone side 2-17 to 0-12 in the quarter-final.
Derry were being tipped as potential All-Ireland champions when they hammered Monaghan in their Ulster semi-final in late April but then had to come to terms with the sudden departure of manager Rory Gallagher after his former wife made serious domestic abuse allegations against him in a social media post.
The Oak Leaf County, with assistant boss Ciaran Meenagh by now in charge, needed extra-time and penalties to see off Armagh in the Ulster Final but after an unimpressive draw against Monaghan in their Super 16s opener, victories over Donegal and Clare saw them progress to the All-Ireland quarter-finals where they beat Cork 1-12 to 1-8.
Like Kerry, Dublin's form was unimpressive during the early stages of the campaign as they were fortunate to beat Kildare 0-14 to 0-12 in their Leinster semi-final before hammering Louth 5-21 to 0-15 in the provincial decider.
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