This Thursday evening Castleknock play in their first senior football semi-final. Formed in 1998, they truly are the nouveau riche of Dublin GAA. Their story is a heartening one, their defiance to make their presence felt in west Dublin all the more impressive with the mammoth St Brigid’s for company.

Munster JFC semi-final

Ballina produced the shock of a busy weekend of Tipp hurling action with a 2-17 to 2-14 win over a very fancied Kilruane MacDonaghs in the North senior hurling championship at Puckane.

Dean Ryan Cup final

Yes, you read the headline correctly and no, we’re not trying to subtract the urine. If we’re putting the cart before the horse it’s only by a few days, because rest assured that — hurling folk being hurling folk — within a couple of hours of the final whistle next Sunday the supporters of both teams will be already turning their attention to next year.

Two-time All Star Richie Power is back in training with Kilkenny after an extended break from the panel.

Loughmore-Castleiney and Aherlow Gaels will contest the Tipperary SFC final following wins over holders, Clonmel Commercials and JK Brackens, respectively.

JK Brackens shocked fancied holders Loughmore-Castleiney in the Mid Tipperary SFC final at Templetuohy yesterday and were full value for their 2-10 to 1-9 win.

Loughmore-Castleiney and Éire Óg Nenagh, as expected, qualified for the Tipperary SHC quarter-finals with comfortable round four wins over Roscrea and Silvermines respectively on Saturday evening.

Champions Kilkenny face an anxious wait on the fitness of a couple of players before Sunday’s Allianz Hurling League final against Tipperary, but it looks likely Richie Power will be unavailable.

Former Tipperary hurler Eamon Corcoran will not be part of new senior team manager Eamon O’Shea’s backroom team.

Tipperary manager William Maher has drafted 2011 All-Ireland minor football winner Colin O’Riordan into his squad for Sunday’s Electric Ireland MHC final replay with Dublin.

IN the battle of the sideline operators tomorrow, David Power stands out from the norm.

GAA chiefs are set to investigate an incident in a Tipperary divisional game in which an umpire was injured.

TWO-TIME All-Star Paul Kelly has been dropped from Tipperary’s senior hurling panel.

AS a Tipperary man, former county chairman John Costigan took great pleasure in reading outgoing selector Eamon O’Shea’s interview with The Irish Examiner before Christmas.

LOUGHMORE-CASTLEINEY retained their Mid-Tipperary SFC crown with a 1-11 to 0-11 victory against JK Brackens in Templetuohy yesterday, in a game that required extra-time.

Despite his unavailability until the summer, John O'Brien has been chosen by county champions Toomevara to captain the Tipperary senior hurlers in 2007.

The Tipperary Senior Football team to play Louth in the National Football League on Sunday has been named.

The Tipperary senior football team to play Kildare on Sunday shows two changes from the Waterford match last Sunday.

PROPOSALS to introduce a two-tier hurling championship at senior level in Tipperary for 2004 have stirred up a hornet’s nest among a number of the county’s leading clubs.

The Tipperary Senior Football team to play Clare on Sunday in the McGrath Cup Semi-Final in Clonmel is as follows:

TIPPERARY’S Allstar defender Eamon Corcoran will be eligible to play in the Guinness All-Ireland hurling qualifier game against Galway on Sunday at Pearse Stadium.

The Tipperary senior football selectors have remained faithfull to the team which brought home a share of the spoils against Derry in the last round of the Allianz National Football League.

Tipperary minor footballers face into the Munster semi-final against Limerick, at Fermoy, on Thursday evening without key player Shane Ryan who has not recovered from injury.

Tipperary's defeat by Limerick in the McGrath Cup final last week is reflected in the selection of the team to play Kerry in the Munster Senior Football championship at Clonmel on Sunday next.