GAELIC Players Association chief Dessie Farrell is confident his organisation will quickly win over its detractors.

GAA fans around the country awoke yesterday to another brewing row between players, management and officials in Cork. Michael Moynihan offers an insight into the background of this festering conflict.

Drinks company C&C lead the forward march in Irish trading this morning as the company's shares rose 41c on foot of news that it has agreed a €250m deal-soft drinks deal with Britvic.

The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) announced its biggest annual scholarship scheme to date at a function at Croke Park today.

C&C Group was yesterday distancing itself from weekend reports saying it is looking to sell off its soft drinks division.

THE Gaelic Players Association and food and drink manufacturer C&C have defended their right to hand out free samples of their Club Energise drinks outside GAA grounds before championship matches this summer.

Five of Ireland's top GAA stars are to act as brand ambassadors for drinks company Club Energise, the official soft drinks sponsor of the Gaelic Players Association.

A STRING of top inter-county GAA players have answered their county’s call in a new Club Energise TV advertisement. The ad, entitled The Call, was revealed for the first time at a press briefing in Dublin yesterday.

THE possibility of a players strike during the All-Ireland hurling and football championships was firmly ruled out by the GPA yesterday, but this weekend’s National League fixtures will be delayed by 15 minutes as a form of “dignified protest”.

The GAA has promised to examine a list of demands issued today by the Gaelic Players' Association.

The Gaelic Players Association has unveiled six demands that it wants the GAA to address in order to lift the threat of strike action by hurlers and footballers.

HE’S a hard man to pin down. Michael Moynihan tried to get a hold of Colm Cooper’s jersey, but the Kerryman was far too smooth.

KERRY’S Colm Cooper resigned from the Gaelic Players Association last week, GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell confirmed yesterday.

KERRY's Colm Cooper has inked a lucrative sponsorship deal with Lucozade Sport, it has emerged.

CORK’S John Gardiner and Tyrone’s Stephen O’Neill were last night named the GPA Players of the Year for hurling and football.

IT’S the afternoon after the launch of his autobiography and Dessie Farrell has swapped the dapper suit for sweats and trainers as he pulls up a chair in the GPA’s offices in Drumcondra.

THE GPA and the GAA could again be on a collision course.

NEXT Sunday Seán Óg Ó hAilpín returns to a familiar field.

RTÉ and the GPA have reached a compromise over the contentious issue of product placement.

Diarmuid O’Flynn interviews Billy Byrne and Eddie O’Connor.

THE Gaelic Players Association is confident that the deadlock with RTÉ over player interviews will finally be broken today after a week of protracted and complicated discussions.

A MEDIA law expert sees no “meaningful distinction” between GAA players drinking Club Energise during television interviews and sports people like Tiger Woods wearing sponsored clothing during interviews.

CORK hurlers last night refused to answer questions posed by RTÉ as the row between the broadcaster and the Gaelic Players Association over product placement escalated.

GPA CHIEF Donal O’Neill has warned that more GAA players may refuse requests for television interviews in the ongoing row over on-screen displays of Club Energise.

THERE will be no boycott of RTÉ by GPA players at this weekend’s championship games, but the Club Energise row has been far from resolved, according to GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell.

THE GPA has hit back at RTÉ’s decision to forbid GAA players from drinking Club Energise during post-match interviews this season, but the station claims it is bound by law to issue the prohibition.

THE GPA is to give full backing to a plan by the GAA to elect a players’ representative to Central Council via a nationwide ballot of inter-county hurlers and footballers.

RTÉ CHIEFS have banned product placement by players in all sports broadcasts, it announced last night.

The GAA and RTÉ have both reacted with anger to the news that the GPA has told its members they can earn €500 if they are seen drinking a bottle of Club Energise during post-match television interviews.

Tony Leen and Brendan O’Brien

LIMERICK GAA bosses were last night embroiled in a row with the GPA over the treatment of the county’s senior football side.

The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) has announced an expansion of its sponsorship deal with C&C Ireland, the company behind Club Energise sport drinks.

TOP fitness expert Dr Liam Hennessy, a former Tipperary hurling trainer and currently involved with the IRFU, will spearhead a series of regional seminars to promote the importance and effectiveness of sound physical conditioning for GAA players.

GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell believes that GAA has suffered a public relations nightmare over the debate to discuss Rule 42 at Congress.

CONTINUING deficiencies in the area of player welfare pose a threat of further strike action for the GAA, the GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell warned last night.

THE Gaelic Players’ Association said yesterday that Paul Flynn is about to withdraw from his controversial endorsement of Lucozade Sport - but doubts remain over the Waterford star’s intentions.

RELATIONS between the GAA and GPA continue to worsen following a new sponsorship drinks deal.

The Gaelic Players Association has hit out at the wording of a Lucozade advertising campaign which suggested that their product is the favourite drink of GAA players.

The Gaelic Players Association this afternoon revealed their new €400,000 TV advert that is set to hit the screens this summer.

The Gaelic Players Association has described its latest merchandising deal with Stafford Fuels as a real coup for its members.

The Gaelic Players’ Association has awarded 12 emerging stars of Gaelic games with scholarships from funds generated through the sales of Club Energise.