Paul O’Shea from Kilcummin will captain the Kerry minor footballers as they begin their quest for a historic fifth consecutive All-Ireland minor crown.

The Cork footballers will enjoy a seven-week run-in to their Munster SFC semi-final on June 3.

Former Cork star Joe Kavanagh believes ensuring the county are in contention for the All-Ireland Super Eight series is more important than promotion to Division 1 of the Allianz League.

A survivor of Waterford’s last All-Ireland win in 1959, Austin Flynn manned the Déise square at a time when his chief responsibility was to ‘protect the goalkeeper from being killed’. His policing was thorough, even when assigned the cases of greats such as Nickey Rackard, Liam Devaney, and Christy Ring, who became a great friend as much as foe.

“The record is not something we have brought up or even discussed,” said Na Piarsaigh manager Shane O’Neil after their Munster semi-final win over Blackrock.

Gardaí have been warning the public about parking restrictions this week ahead of the Munster quarter-final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Two memories from the night of the 2005 All Stars. The Fat Frogs and my hot date.

Either the Cork camp is reading from the same script or they genuinely believe that victory over a top-six outfit will lift the dark clouds and reinstate them as a leading football force.

They’ve found themselves sat at the same table each summer for the past 16 years and yet if you take out their escapades during June and July of 2011, they’ve never managed to raise their voice loud enough for anyone to notice them.

Waterford football selector Tony Corcoran is optimistic the Déise can spring a shock against Derry having retained almost their entire panel for the qualifiers.

As simple as flicking a light switch, it will come right for the Cork footballers. But when that will be, Eamonn Ryan can’t say for sure.

There was a positive end to a forgettable weekend for the Tipperary hurlers last night with confirmation All-Star corner-back Cathal Barrett has avoided cruciate knee ligament damage.

Declan Browne won’t forget his first taste of inter-county management following the Tipperary U21 footballers extra-time defeat to Limerick in Wednesday’s Munster quarter-final at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick.

If recent games are anything to go by, then Micheál Burns will be the first Crokes sub called down from the stand tomorrow. Jordan Kiely will follow shortly after, with Tony Brosnan not far behind.

Confidence. That’s been the key. Granted, there have been other subtle improvements, but none as profound or important as the collective confidence of this Tipperary squad.

Cork U21 football manager Sean Hayes has enjoyed more relaxing weekends than the one just gone.

The Clonmel Commercials dressing room sings in perfect unison.

Brian Cuthbert and Ronan McCarthy ran into each other at a "work thing" early in the New Year.

Cork hurling captain Anthony Nash has made little of the team’s full-back problem by claiming “there is no such thing as a full-back anymore”.

Martin Toal had an unexpectedly easy win over Conor McGuigan in the quarter-final of the Ulster senior championship at Port Mór-Blackwatertown.

Adare's John Fitzgibbon was the hero for Limerick but Clare were left counting the cost of their indiscipline in a niggly and sometimes ugly Munster quarter-final.

Limerick’s hurlers will not be seeking to atone for their flat performance and accompanying defeat to Clare in the 2013 All-Ireland semi-final when they face the Banner again in a Munster opener on Sunday.

Members of the Clare football management team were remaining tight-lipped last night over the 12-week ban handed down to Colm Collins.

The 2014 season wasn’t without its fair share of disputes and furore. But just where does the likes of Shane Enright’s non-black card, Parade-gate and Stephen O’Keeffe’s safety-defying save from Anthony Nash rank in the GAA’s biggest on-field Championship controversies since 2000?

Penalties are no longer a strong enough deterrent to prevent defenders from fouling forwards bearing down on goal, as evidenced during Sunday’s drawn All-Ireland final.

ALL-IRELAND JFC FINAL:

Opportunity must be fond of Wexford hurling for rarely one to knock twice, it almost kicked thE championship door in for Liam Dunne’s men to clamber through last week.

To prove he is good enough to play inter-county football, twice a week Shane McGrath makes the two-and-a-half-hour journey from Dublin, where he was born and where he has played his club football all his life, to Clare, the county of his parents.

The GAA have moved to clear up the confusion surrounding hurling penalties and 20 metre frees ahead of this weekend’s Championship games.

Offaly’s Niall McNamee has spoken of his embarrassment at seeing Tyrone’s state-of-the-art centre of excellence in Garvaghey and claimed more could be done by his own county board to facilitate their county teams.

Jake Dillon says the possibility of another poor Waterford crowd at Sunday week’s replay with Cork won’t deter the players.

Munster SHC quarter-final

Limerick and Wexford will be without inter-county football and hurling for a massive eight weeks from this weekend while Waterford are facing seven.

ALLIANZ HL DIVISION 1A:

Dr Crokes 1-11 Castlehaven 0-08

Your team has just been beaten in the provincial championship and you’re heading out the back-door and into the jungle of the All-Ireland qualifiers.

All-Ireland senior champion Martin Coppinger secured a place in the Munster quarter-final through a last shot win over Aidan Murphy at a tense and tightly packed Baile Mhuirne on Sunday.

Fourteen years might have passed since Tipperary football’s greatest miscarriage of justice but some things don’t change.

Champions Donegal will begin their defence of the Ulster SFC against Tyrone at Ballybofey on Sunday (4pm) with the same 15 players who started last September’s All-Ireland final win over Mayo.

Declan Bonner is beginning to think the fates of Donegal and Kerry football are inversely linked.