Their growing confidence inside the whitewash is at long last being matched by their words off it; Tipperary football speak has never been so bold or assertive.

Antrim hurling manager Kevin Ryan has launched a furious attack on the Ulster Council after it brought forward the starting time of the Ulster U21 HC final to accommodate a club reserve football match.

Leitrim skipper Emlyn Mulligan is hoping for a club and county championship double this weekend as he prepares to face Roscommon at Hyde Park.

By hook or by crook — and furious Cavan may just argue it is the latter — Dublin could yet win this Cadbury All-Ireland U-21 football championship as they’ve been tipped to do so from the outset.

It began with a phone call 11 months ago. Louis Mulqueen got in touch with Shane O’Donnell’s father looking for his son’s number.

Just three months have passed since Liam O’Neill used the word “boring” while bemoaning the defensive nature of football and the over-reliance on hand passing, but the GAA president sounded a far more upbeat note about the code yesterday.

They did not replicate the crushing defeats they inflicted on opponents in the provincial arena, but there was still plenty of merit to and plenty to admire in Dublin’s victory in Saturday’s Cadbury’s All-Ireland U21FC semi-final in Portlaoise.

TOM COOPER (Letters, September 1) claims that the All-Ireland U21 hurling finals should be played in Croke Park rather than Semple Stadium. I believe this is a foolish idea and the main reason for that is crowds.

OFFALY’S Brian Gavin will referee the All-Ireland SHC final between Kilkenny and Tipperary in Croke Park on September 4.

A FOUR goal blast from John Fitzgibbon saw Adare book their place in the Limerick SHC quarter-finals and lay down a marker to all contenders in the remaining eight.

PAURIC Mahony scored 2-8 as former champions De La Salle maintained their perfect record in this season’s Dr Harty Cup.

JOHN F Kennedy produced a line for the ages in his inauguration speech as US President when he told his audience to “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

BOTH John Kennedy and Mick Slocum are singing from the same hymn sheet ahead of tonight’s Munster MFC semi-finals.

WE HAD another stumble at the Munster U21 Hurling Final last Wednesday night. Tipp and Clare, not for the first time, served up a thriller before a massive crowd of 12,000 people. Everything was totally sporting and the hurling was excellent.

THE Offaly County Board has succeeded in its bid to get tomorrow’s Leinster U21 hurling championship final against Kilkenny at O’Connor Park in Tullamore postponed.

THE Camogie Association is unhappy that their All-Ireland finals in Croke Park on Sunday will clash with the U21 hurling decider in the Gaelic Grounds between Kilkenny and Galway.