Limerick manager John Kiely yesterday dismissed Clare suggestions that his side could have done more to beat Tipperary in the last round of the Munster SHC, a result which would have sent the Banner through to the All-Ireland series.

Aonghus Clarke has insisted that Joe McDonagh Cup finalists Westmeath won’t fear playing Cork or Dublin in the All-Ireland series next month.

There are some All-Ireland finals that were they played another nine times would produce a myriad of different outcomes.

Everyone wants to know at what stage of the All-Ireland series Joe Canning will make his return — but has anyone stopped to consider the growing possibility that Galway might not see beyond Leinster, putting paid to any late-summer running of The Joe Show?

The divided reaction to David Hickey’s interview carried in this newspaper on Saturday wasn’t unexpected.

Timmy Murphy will lead the Munster team in the third All-Ireland series in Boston in October following his bowl of odds win over Michéal O’Sullivan in the Junior C final at Clondrohid.

“A great test,” was how Jim Gavin described this Super 8 game. And that it was — two teams unbeaten in Championship with provincial silverware to their names locking horns. The equivalent of the pre-qualifier All-Ireland semi-final. An All-Ireland series game in its purest form.

Mickey Harte says defeat in Navan tomorrow would be a ‘horrible’ end to Tyrone’s season.

The Munster SHC will boil down to whichever team has put in place the most effective recovery programme for between games, Clare joint-manager Gerry O’Connor has insisted.

The sharpshooters get all the glory, writes Peter McNamara.

Ger Cunningham sees progress in Dublin hurling, with the current side laying foundations for future teams, but it’s “first things first” - Laois tonight in the qualifiers.

I have written on these pages on more than one occasion regarding the need for reform of the All-Ireland Football Championship, writes Seán Kelly

There is no chance of the black card being ditched from Gaelic football, according to GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghail.

The GAA and GPA are on a major collision course after the players’ organisation last night threatened the non- compliance of eight county teams if the ‘B’ championship proposal is approved by Congress later this month.

• Revenue dropped €500,000 to 55.7m.

Next year’s Munster minor hurling championship will be played under an amended system to remove the possibility of teams being eliminated after playing, and losing, just one game.

Alan Dillon admits that Mayo’s dismantling of Sligo in Sunday’s Connacht final may have done little to prepare them for the more taxing business of the All-Ireland series when opponents will surely show more defensive nous.

Kildare 2-15 Longford 1-9: Kildare collected their second Leinster minor title in three years with a comfortable nine-point victory over Longford.

So will the GPA find consensus among its members on this latest idea of theirs to restructure the All-Ireland senior football championship?

It’s the time of year again when the All-Ireland qualifiers creep upon us and, with them, the perennial spike in the criticisms of the footballing and hurling competition structures and a myriad of suggestions as to how they could be improved.

Leitrim football manager Shane Ward is not convinced the county would be best served by competing in an All-Ireland B championship.

The Championship structure is unfair and hopelessly outdated, club players are treated disgracefully, and excessive demands are being placed on county footballers, suggests Paddy Heaney.

TESCO HOMEGROWN ALL-IRELAND LADIES’ SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL:

Bringing both All-Ireland senior finals forward by week will help "revolutionise" the GAA calendar, claims GAA president Liam O’Neill.

GAA top brass deny that the new penalty for criticism of match officials stems from Brian Cody’s attack on referee Barry Kelly.

Brian O’Halloran will lead the Munster team in the third All-Ireland series in Westport in two weeks following his bowl of odds win over Michael Ward in the Junior C final at Kildee. 

The club, we are repeatedly informed by the great and the good of the GAA, is the ‘lifeblood of the Association’. By extension, that should mean the club championship is a competition which is truly treasured by the trusted leaders who espouse this rhetoric.

Hawk-Eye may well be on course to be installed at Semple Stadium in time for the 2015 season, according to GAA Director General Páraic Duffy.

Brendan Devenney believes scrapping the provincial championships will bring an end to the club fixtures controversy.

At first glance, it seems preposterous, a shambles, a fudge, the proverbial camel you invariably get when a committee tries to draw a horse.

Carlow county board chairman Michael Meaney has revealed his disappointment that Wexford voted against their neighbours on proposed changes to the Allianz Hurling League.

Cork U21 football manager John Cleary does not feel Damien Cahalane or Brian Hurley would be overawed by making the step up to senior championship football.

All-Ireland-winning Donegal manager Jim McGuinness has questioned the reasoning behind the setting up of the Football Review Committee (FRC).

Last week, work took me to the German capital Berlin, where I spent four days in the company of cement kiln refractory specialists from around the globe.

Three players who helped power Tipperary to victory over Galway in the recent All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship final have been shortlisted for the Bord Gáis Energy Breaking Through Player of the Year award - they are Seamus Hennessey, Brian O'Meara and Brendan Maher.

Former GAA President Seán Kelly has called on Croke Park chiefs to run the provincial and All-Ireland football championships as separate competitions.