If there’s one thing almost as special as going to your first All-Ireland, it’s bringing one of your children to theirs

You have to go back to 1994 when Ireland last won something like this when current coach Mark Keenan captained a senior squad to what was then known as the Promotions Cup

From Cork and Limerick each starting the last decade on strike, they’re now both best geared to top this one

Limerick appear out on their own in a way unimaginable even when ‘Dreams’ and Dolores rang around Croker in 2018

In O’Byrne the Basketball Ireland board are now dealing with a man fighting for his reputation as much as his job, one which he has carried out impressively

Without clarity on Cluxton, more so than being without Cluxton, the aura is slightly fading, the gap is narrowing

By going with another do-or-die championship, they’ve killed it off. Perhaps it had to be seen to fail spectacularly for something more spectacular to take its place

Managers and coaches are investing too much time and thought and energy into the sports without being able to make the kind of interventions they’d like and need to have when it matters most: in-game

When the fall is all there is, it matters.

The real competition flaw this year is that for a second consecutive year there will be no backdoor for footballers while there is one provided for hurlers