ISN’T it very easy to be a hurler on the ditch?

BEFORE I go into any preview of this weekend’s action, I’d like to get one thing off my chest. Why don’t the GAA return to the system where you had quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final, with the two top teams in Division Two brought in at quarter-final stage?

WHAT an outstanding advert for the National Hurling League this was.

I MET a few people on the way into the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday evening, mostly Limerick supporters, and I remarked that it was a pity all this trouble was happening.

Tony Considine (TC): “You two have both been involved with Clare teams at various levels over the years, how does this team compare with those?”

BEFORE I go into the match analysis, I’d like to compliment everyone involved in Semple Stadium for the state of the pitch yesterday.

IT was celebration time in the GAA on Sunday on the exact date of that famous meeting in Hayes Hotel in Thurles 125 years ago.

THE FIRST thing to say was how fantastic to see Plan B going up in lights at Croke Park again yesterday.

THERE have been three outstanding hurling games this year.

I WANT to compliment whoever made the following decisions at Croke Park yesterday: (1) the band playing the national anthem, the voices coming only from the crowd; (2) the common sense that prevailed at the end of the game, when the crowd broke the cordon on Hill 16 and the decision was made to move the presentation back to the Hogan Stand, thus allowing the Kilkenny supporters to do what has always been done traditionally on All-Ireland final day in Croke Park and mix with the players; (3) and this one is crucial – the appointment of Diarmuid Kirwan as referee.