The case for the defence rests.

The €3 million-plus the GAA will pocket from the September 28 replay of yesterday’s All-Ireland hurling final is the cherry on top of a summer of bumper championship attendances for the association.

Sport needs to be partisan.

Word of his departure had reached the press room before Conor Counihan did, and though some were surprised he didn’t see out the second year of his agreed term, it was an honourable exit for a thoroughly decent man.

LIFE, said one sage, can be neatly categorised into dogs and lamp posts.

He is still finding his way as Kerry coach, but Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s open-door approach to media duties has already won him kudos from the laptop brigade.

He’s still only 36, but basketball’s Women’s Superleague coach of the year James Weldon has already been coaching for half his life. The trick? Continually pushing himself outside his comfort zone in the search for new methods and insights, even if that’s an obscure tournament in eastern Europe. The UL Huskies coach doesn’t do down time.

Only this week, I was reminded why Jim McGuinness’s first All-Ireland title as coach of Donegal was much longer than two seasons in the making.

There’s only one thing more likely than the progress of a side with a navvy’s appetite for work to the All-Ireland final to change the shape of football. And that’s a second team with similar attributes.

If you listen to the Donegal Pied Piper long enough, you too would understand why Jim McGuinness’s players have such faith in him.