It’s all starting to get a bit tasty in the All-Ireland Football Championship.

With Provincial semi-finals this weekend, there’s been plenty of shocks so far, namely Meath’s loss to Westmeath, Down’s dismantling of Donegal and Roscommon’s thrashing of Mayo last Sunday.

And while for many it makes reigning champions Kerry even stronger favourites than they were before, for others it leaves the Championship wide open.

It’s all set up to be an exciting summer of football, and Pat Spillane believes there are several dark horses in the race to win the Sam Maguire in July. Speaking on the Indo GAA podcast, Spillane was coy not to stamp Kerry as the nailed-on favourites and was keen to big up potential rivals for the Kingdom’s crown.

‘The All-Ireland is getting more and more competitive,’ Pat Spillane said. ‘Look at Roscommon, for example. I hold my hands up, you give them lip service where you say “good league, but they will blow up in the championship”. Roscommon, for a small county, they’re a serious outfit.

‘The football they produced in this year’s league and in the second half [against Mayo] was unbelievable…’

He also namechecked last year’s Leinster Champions as well as, probably with heart in mouth, named bitter rivals Cork as a contender for this year’s Championship.

‘Louth are becoming a serious, serious team. We will see next weekend after Dublin.

‘I’ve slagged off Cork for years. This Cork team are a serious team this year. They’re an improving team, he has a settled team. For the last 20 minutes against Tipperary, I think they scored 3-11 to 0-4 or 0-5. They’re a serious team.

‘It’s a competitive championship.’

Kerry are still favourites with the bookmakers, with Ulster trio Donegal, Armagh and Derry as well as Galway following closely behind.

Meanwhile, for the trio Spillane mentioned, Roscommon and Cork have provincial finals against Galway and Kerry, respectively, next month, while Louth will aim to reach another Leinster final this weekend when they face Dublin.