When Mickey Harte acknowledged last spring that Tyrone required more height and physicality in their attack, he was hoping the ploy would pay off with an occasion like last Friday night.

Adding a more physical presence to Tyrone’s forward line is one of the major lessons Mickey Harte learned from 2018.

Croke Park will surely be filled with a very different type of atmosphere next Sunday afternoon than the peaceful holiness brought by Pope Francis last weekend.

The suspicion that the modern inter-county player is a joyless soul with an unhealthy preference for protein shakes over pints, is deep-rooted in our psyche now.

Clare manager Colm Collins has slammed the GAA’s new senior football championship proposals as “pathetic.”

What has happened to Cork? When the last time you could actually trust the county’s footballers to deliver on the big day? Paddy Kelly knows the issues. “We haven’t had a big scalp in the championship the last few years. Even saying that, we sound like of the smaller counties, but this is a huge opportunity to put that right.”

Offaly great Michael Duignan has revealed his deep frustration with the state of hurling, claiming that the most talented players are being straight-jacketed by defensive tactics.

Tyrone legend Brian McGuigan has hailed the present team’s remarkable athleticism but claimed they’ve sacrificed much of the joy that used to be associated with the game.

Former Tyrone star Brian McGuigan claims Kerry would have won the 2011 All-Ireland final had Eamonn Fitzmaurice been in charge of them.

The future of the North’s powersharing executive hangs in the balance after unionists resigned last night and left a small window in which to heal relations between all sides.

Former Tyrone forward Brian McGuigan has ratcheted up the heat ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final by claiming Kerry’s two 35-year-old defenders should be targeted.

It became an iconic image, the day football changed forever. 

Two minutes before half-time in the 2011 Ulster semi-final, Tyrone ripped through the blanket and Brian McGuigan fed Stephen O’Neill, who cut inside two Donegal defenders.

Tyrone legend Brian McGuigan has welcomed Cathal McCarron’s return to county football — but admits this represents a last chance for the former All-Star nominee to salvage his career.

Enda McNulty has claimed the Kerry and Tyrone teams of the noughties were "weaker teams" than the Armagh side he played for and that it is a "disgrace" that the Orchard county won only one All-Ireland when they were "in a position to win nine".

Throw all the statistics you want at Benny Coulter — you won’t change his mind that teams will revert to type including Tyrone on Sunday.

Tyrone minor manager Mickey Donnelly has given his blessing to star player Conor McKenna’s dream of a professional career in Aussie Rules football — but he still hopes the exciting teenager can be persuaded to commit to the Red Hands.

Referees chief Pat McEnaney is pleased with how the black card is operating in Gaelic football but concedes officials have been making some errors in applying the new rules.

Colm Cooper has aimed a withering pop at Joe Brolly following the pundit’s recent comments about his leadership qualities and suitability to the centre-forward position.

Joe Brolly has questioned Colm Cooper again and claimed the current Kerry team are at the end of a cycle, not the start.

ALL-IRELAND SFC QUARTER-FINAL:

ALL-IRELAND SFC RD4 QUALIFIER:

Last Saturday, Billy Sheehan strode out of the Laois dressing room in Wexford Park, a beaming smile across his bearded face, and implored one journalist to keep writing Laois off.

Tyler Hamilton in his best-selling book The Secret Race informed us about the detail Lance Armstrong and his team put into preparation.

Welcome back, Declan O’Sullivan. By our reckoning, it’s over two years since his words appeared in a national newspaper.

Goals were key for both Donegal and Roscommon as they booked a meeting in the Nicky Rackard Cup final at Croke Park in a fortnight's time, following semi-final wins this afternoon.

All Paddy McConigley can recall was the pain. Searing. Raging. Blinding? Yes, sadly. The most excruciating experience he has ever endured.

Tyrone’s young guns face the first major test of their careers this weekend, according to attacker Mark Donnelly.

They’re wrong when they say your career should be measured on medals.

In the early days he was mostly known as Frank McGuigan’s son.

ALLIANZ FL DIVISION 1

Outspoken former Tyrone player Brian McGuigan believes sending Kerry down to Division 2 next season would be “payback” for last year’s All-Ireland qualifier defeat in Killarney.

The US vice-president, Joe Biden, is to fulfil a long-standing promise to come to Ireland later this year, when he is expected to visit his ancestral home in the Taoiseach’s native Co Mayo.

We’ll get to the Kerry-Tyrone rivalry in a moment but first things first: a second spitting controversy involving Tyrone in the space of a few weeks does nothing but raise more questions about discipline in the county.

Oisín McConville doesn’t subscribe to the theory that Kerry will have a long wait for another All-Ireland senior title win.

Tyrone’s Brian McGuigan has told Kerry to forget about winning an All-Ireland title for the next six or seven years.

If you asked 100 Tyrone supporters to name their first choice team for this year’s championship match against Donegal, you’re likely to get 100 very different answers back.

Owen Mulligan says he’ll have to ring Tyrone boss Mickey Harte this week to discover if his county career really is over.

Mickey Harte last night heralded a new era for Tyrone football, confirming a major overhaul of his squad and the departure of 11 established players.

MICKEY Harte is set to carry out a major overhaul of his Tyrone squad.

Mickey Harte has called on the GAA to consider hosting both All-Ireland football semi-finals over the same weekend as one of numerous ways to free up the calendar for club games and a rejuvenated Railway Cup.

Eight players from All-Ireland football champions Donegal have secured a place on the 2012 All-Stars team, with beaten finalists Mayo awarded four spots.

All-Ireland champions Donegal swept the boards with eight All-Stars, one more than their haul when they previously won the All-Ireland title 20 years ago and two better than their predecessors’ Dublin’s total in 2011.

For a group of players that feel they haven’t been given enough respect these past few years, mentioning Cork’s size to them is not usually met with the warmest of receptions.

Brian McGuigan is ready to commit to the Tyrone cause for another season, after coming out of retirement in the face of an injury crisis.

The frustration of Tyrone's All-Ireland SFC exit to Kerry and his sending-off in the second half of the match is keenly felt in Brian McGuigan's latest 'Gaelic Life' column.

Tyrone’s Brian McGuigan has sensationally claimed Declan O’Sullivan exaggerated an injury to get him sent off last Saturday.

Mickey Harte’s rant came with the qualifier that David Coldrick didn’t cost Tyrone the game.