Last weekend's electric fare in GAA HQ has certainly teed up an exciting final.

Based on my predictions in the column last week, one Galway man texted me begging me to go all in on Armagh for the final. But there'll be plenty of time to get into that next week.

Whatever about the Donegal-Galway semi-final, which was always a roll of the dice, I didn't foresee Armagh turning Kerry over in Saturday's semi.

Many of us imagined an Ulster title was the summit of their expectations this year and their most plausible route to silverware. After that sickening blow of another penalty shootout loss in Clones, we wondered had they the resolve to recover this time, especially after shipping so many cruel knocks in recent years.

Well, they certainly proved they had and Kieran McGeeney and his side deserve huge credit in getting all the way to the big show.

On Sunday afternoon, I was the third wheel in another Tomás Ó Sé/Seán Cavanagh ding-dong in the Croke Park studio as the inquest into Kerry's exit dragged on.

Seán never misses an opportunity to sew it into Kerry any chance he gets. But I don't think I'd be lobbing the word 'choked' around in relation to Kerry.

Personally, I think their downfall was a combination of a lack of games against high-quality opposition on the road to the semi-final and just some poor skill execution at key moments in the game, which kept Armagh alive.

Most bizarrely of all, their fitness let them down in the extra-time period. Even down the stretch in normal time, they looked leggy. And once the additional 20 minutes started, they were falling like flies.

Paul Murphy at full-time

It was strange to hear Jack O'Connor dwelling so much on the impact of the crowd in his post-match comments.

It's not as if this is anything new with Kerry. It's part of their tradition and identity, almost, that they don't travel until the All-Ireland final.

They'd surely have assumed beforehand, given the fanaticism of the Armagh support, that the breakdown would have been roughly as it was.

I'm not saying the crowd isn't a help and there are times you can feed off that energy. And Armagh did seem to derive great momentum off that in the closing stages. When Barry McCambridge slapped home the goal, the roof nearly lifted off the place.

We had that to some extent in the drawn 2015 semi-final against Dublin, where we were seven points down at one stage and mounted a late charge to snatch a replay. The Mayo crowd definitely got into it that day and we were swept away on that giddy wave of energy.

But there can be a flipside to it. It can be a burden if you make a mistake and you hear the crowd groan or sag, you can be standing there thinking, 'I just killed that momentum' and it can be a hindrance.

The crowd feeds off what's happening on the field first and foremost. If Shane Ryan doesn't spill that ball and Kerry maintain their four-point lead then the Armagh fans are kept quiet.

From a Kerry perspective, I'd be mainly worried about their lack of skill execution in the second half and in extra-time.

Tom O'Sullivan had two gilt-edged goal chances to open up a proper gap early in the second half. He wound up butchering both because he didn't trust his right foot.

Even look at the final minute of extra-time. They had a glorious chance to level the game prior to Conor Turbitt's final point but Sean O'Brien could only manage a really poor shot into the keeper's hands.

There was a lot of focus in the aftermath on David Clifford and he was definitely a bit off-colour and, at times, cut a frustrated figure. He's been shut out of a few games, with defences crowding him out. The way the Derry game panned out, he was more or less a decoy for the whole match, with Kerry deciding it was too much of a risk to kick long into a crowded defence. I wonder is all that weighing on him.

In those circumstances, it shouldn't be just down to him. If he's been heavily marked, that means other players should, in theory, have more space to operate in and get scores. As Jack noted afterwards, that happened in previous games - but not on Saturday.

Donegal will likewise have huge regrets at their exit. In the last 10 minutes that game was there for them but their efficiency and energy levels let them down, which I didn't foresee.

And Jim said it afterwards, there's no 'Year 1' as such. The All-Ireland was there for them this year. And had they got over the line on Sunday, they'd have fancied their chances against Armagh, having beaten them twice this year already.

McGuinness: 'People talk about year one – there is no such thing'

I wouldn't be so sure they'll get as good an opportunity again, particularly if Dublin and Kerry are back in the mix and Derry have re-grouped and recovered their form.

The sliding doors moments down the stretch were Oisín Gallen's missed free from the left-hand side (I saw him cramping up a few minutes before that, which was significant) and then Ciarán Thompson slipping and touching the ball on the ground after a Donegal turnover. It was a crucial couple of minutes and you really felt that in the stadium.

Some panic seemed to overtake them. They were struggling to break through the Galway defence and started lashing some wild shots. They never got a sniff of a goal chance and so when Galway nipped two ahead going into injury-time, that essentially felt like game over.

Overall, I think Galway were that bit classier and had more strings to their bow. Their greater experience and depth told in the latter stages. That crippling injury crisis in the league is nearly looking like a blessing disguise because they were forced to stretch their squad so much and now they find themselves with a serious amount of options.

And Connor Gleeson, who's been pilloried in the past, was brilliant and didn't put a foot wrong on kick-outs or under the high ball.

Like Armagh, they've come a long way.

I remember meeting Pádraic Joyce on the evening of the Croke Park Connacht final three years ago. That defeat really stung him. They had played great stuff in the first half and then completely collapsed after half-time. We outscored them 2-08 to 0-03 in the second half and had a goal disallowed for dubious enough reasons.

On that evening, I didn't foresee Galway contending for All-Irelands any time soon. Joyce was really hurt by the loss but, in looking back, it was probably the day that the penny dropped that he would have to tweak his approach.

He came in with big dreams of playing purist, attacking football and reverting to type a little after the Kevin Walsh years.

But he learned the lessons, adapted more to the modern game and Galway have never looked back. And now they've another shot at glory in ten days time.

Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship final, Cork v Clare, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1