Four-time All-Ireland hurling final referee Brian Gavin has urged the GAA to embrace a trial of a new yellow sliotar in order to assist umpires in spotting the ball.

Seventeen Kerry players are in line to make their All-Ireland senior final debut on Sunday afternoon.

Peter Keane wasn’t the least bit surprised to hear Jim Gavin regard his Kerry side as a team of the now, rather than one for the future.

Tipperary U20 hurling manager Liam Cahill has described as “lunacy” the rule which prevents young footballers from playing U20 and senior championship in the one summer, insisting that there is no threat of burnout to the three members of his panel who are also part of Liam Sheedy’s set-up.

Losing last year’s All-Ireland semi-final to Kilkenny hurt Galway camogie captain Sarah Dervan so much she did something, you imagine, that was totally alien to her usually sunny disposition.

There was a famous photograph taken in 2000 at a Leinster U21 final, shortly after Offaly had dethroned Cork to reach the All-Ireland senior final, where they were due to square up to Kilkenny again.

“There are hurlers everywhere,” Éamonn Kennedy stresses.

Mickey Harte has always sweated the small stuff.

Padraig Hampsey clearly isn’t of a mind that Monaghan were poorly served by referee Anthony Nolan in Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final.

Conor McGuigan and Éamon Bowen clash in a fascinating All-Ireland intermediate bowling final on Sunday, in the feature score of the second All-Ireland series at Tullysaran in Armagh.

David Murphy gave a bowling masterclass in yesterday’s All-Ireland senior final at Grenagh, to beat Ulster champion Thomas Mackle by a bowl of odds.

Waterford County Board chairman Paddy Joe Ryan has emphasised that Walsh Park in Waterford city is the only venue that will be upgraded as per the wishes of officials in Croke Park.

Cork 2-9

Michael Harrington leads the Munster team in the first All-Ireland series at Grenagh this weekend. The Killarney man is hoping to make history as the first Kerry native to win the title when he faces Paul Rafferty on Saturday.

Brian Carroll announced his retirement from Offaly hurling this week. Son of two-time All-Ireland medal-winner Pat, he was a member of the last Offaly team to capture the Leinster minor crown (2000) and played in the provincial senior hurling final back in 2004.

O’Donovan Rossa (Antrim) 2-12Cappoquin (Waterford) 1-8: AIB All-Ireland Club IHC semi-final:

Pre-tax profits at the technology firm that determined the fate of the 2014 Hurling All-Ireland final increased by 14.5% to £3.25m (€4.23m) last year.

The Hurling 2020 committee is expected to recommend penalties be changed from the current one forward versus three defenders on the goal-line to one forward versus the goalkeeper.

New Galway football manager Kevin Walsh says he will search the county for new talent and that prospective players will not be ruled out because of age or the standard of club football they play.

MY brother Brian was corner back for the Galway minors in 1986 when they beat Cork in the All-Ireland final. Later that afternoon Kerry beat Tyrone in the senior game. Brian is 45 now and in the intervening 28 years Kerry have since failed to defeat an Ulster team in an All-Ireland senior final.

What a day in Croke Park yesterday. And what a victory for Cork, giving one of the greatest second-half displays I have seen in years.

2013: All-Ireland senior hurling medallist, All-Ireland U21 medallist, hurler of the year, young hurler of the year and all while still a teenager.

Long before Noel McGrath made his senior inter-county debut with Tipperary in 2009, anyone with even the faintest knowledge of hurling knew this kid was going to be a star.

If asked to name a famous ladies footballer the chances are your response will be Cora Staunton.

Mayo’s Cillian O’Connor is refusing to dwell on the “miscommunication” with referee Joe McQuillan at the end of the All-Ireland SFC final defeat to Dublin, but admits he would have “gone for goal” if “I knew then what I know now”.

Cork’s dramatic draw in the All-Ireland final on Sunday has acted like a booster shot to the GAA within the county.

It is a tale of contrasting fortunes. Three weeks ago in the All-Ireland U21 semi-final, Clare full-forward Aaron Cunningham was forced from the field with a serious hamstring tear.

A few things are bothering me about this All-Ireland final and they revolve around the complaints coming from Antrim about playing the game in Thurles and their fans feeling slighted again.

The day Cork held their press evening, Jimmy Barry-Murphy enjoyed a birthday, his 59th.

The decision to hold the upcoming Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship final in Thurles has been branded 'a total disgrace' by Antrim U-21 manager Kevin Ryan.

Clare 1-16 Galway 0-07

Martin Coppinger and Eddie Carr will face each other in the rescheduled All-Ireland senior final at Béal na mBláth on Saturday, August 24.

Martin Coppinger was handed a difficult route to defend his Munster and All-Ireland senior titles at last Wednesday’s Munster championship draws.

All Star David Burke is hoping to crown a remarkable year by guiding Galway’s St Thomas’s to a first All-Ireland club final appearance when they take on reigning champions Loughgiel Shamrocks on Saturday.

The imp on my shoulder made an attractive suggestion here.

Munster GAA chief executive Pat Fitzgerald has suggested clubs seeking capital grants will have to prove they are contributing to the community.

In looking through the nominations for the 2012 hurling All-Stars, I note what I would consider to be a few glaring omissions.

Tommy O’Connell was chatting to a couple of friends in the Croke Park Hotel an hour or two before last year’s All-Ireland final when Jimmy Magee passed by. One of the friends buttonholed Magee and, pointing to O’Connell, asked him why this man had a place in hurling history.

There are those who look at the Clare team for this game in Thurles this evening, the all-senior half-back line (Seadna Morey, Conor Ryan, Patrick O’Connor), the established senior stars in midfield (Colm Galvin) and up front (Aaron Cunningham, Tony Kelly, Conor McGrath), then look at Kilkenny against Galway last week in the All-Ireland senior final, not a single U21 player with even a minute of game-time, and think — Clare’s final to lose, surely.

Ticket prices for the All-Ireland senior and minor final replays on September 30 are set to be reduced, although the GAA stand to make over €3million from the bonus games.

AROUND this time every year it’s difficult to escape the various sporting lists of ‘ones to watch’ for the next 12 months.

JAMES O’DONOVAN and Ian Callanan gelled into a perfect team in their bowl of odds win over Christy Mullins and Jerry Gibbons in the annual St. Stephen’s Day challenge at Grange.

DAVY FITZGERALD is the only candidate in the race to be appointed Clare senior hurling boss ahead of tonight’s county board meeting at the West County Hotel in Ennis.

CORK ladies captain, Amy O’Shea insists she is not offended by the controversial Hunky Dory advertisements that feature scantily clad models playing Gaelic football.