When winter boredom and old age has made us decrepit, the end of January can’t come fast enough. 

There has been robust discussion around this week’s series on Irish football and the things being done to restore our supply of top talent. It even spilled beyond these shores, from the UK to USA and Sweden to South Africa, with many of the issues raised striking a universal chord.

Are our youngsters coached right? Should they play less competitive football? Or more? Is the cross-channel route to the top of the game viable any longer? And can the League of Ireland provide a feasible alternative? In the second part of his look at our supply line of footballers, Larry Ryan canvasses more opinion from around the Irish game.

The cancellation of this year’s interpros looks to have sounded the death-knell for a once-great GAA competition, writes John Fogarty.

Cork star Rena Buckley is hoping for the appointment of Eamonn Ryan’s successor as senior football team manager “sooner rather than later”.

Make all the noises you want about the team, and the match, and the result, rather it being Brian O’Driscoll’s final international — O’Driscoll himself certainly did so all last week — but there’s no point in being reasonable.

Three high-profile hurling referees have been dropped from this year’s championship panel.

Maths wasn’t exactly a strong suit in the old school days, but one glance around Croke Park last Sunday afternoon seemed to offer fairly definitive evidence that the numbers just didn’t add up for what proved to be two perfectly enjoyable Allianz League Division 1 semi-finals.

Mickey Harte has called on the GAA to consider hosting both All-Ireland football semi-finals over the same weekend as one of numerous ways to free up the calendar for club games and a rejuvenated Railway Cup.

Barry McGoldrick is a major injury concern for Derry ahead of their Ulster SFC quarter-final against Fermanagh at Celtic Park on Sunday.

A LEADING GAA official has dismissed calls for a return to an autumn start for the National Leagues claiming such a move would cause costs to spiral for county boards and lead to a congestion of club fixtures.

The trophy presentations for this year's All-Ireland Senior Football and Hurling Championship finals are set to take place in the middle of the Croke Park pitch.

TIPPERARY manager John Evans yesterday labelled the officials who passed the new handpass legislation in football as “intelligent fools”, with Kerry boss Jack O’Connor also joining the criticism following yesterday’s Munster SFC quarter-final at Semple Stadium.

GAA President Christy Cooney yesterday described payment of club managers as "the most challenging area" facing the association.

We’ve invested enormously as an association developing coaches at club level. Why don’t we give them a chance to manage their own teams?

There was a time well within living memory that such a contest would have dominated discussions for weeks beforehand – and afterwards.

UP to 20 of the top hurling and football referees in the country face being put out to pasture next season after the GAA announced officials over the age of 50 will no longer be used for senior inter-county fixtures.

TYRONE boss Mickey Harte believes the GAA could do more to promote the National Leagues.

FORMER Offaly great, Daithí Regan, has blasted GAA officials for paying lip service to hurling and being “more interested in balancing the books” than promoting the game.

GAA PRESIDENT Christy Cooney has called on top players to respect one another for the remainder of the championship.

KERRY boss Jack O’Connor has predicted ‘pandemonium’ if the experimental disciplinary rules in place for the National Leagues, are introduced into this year’s championship.

GAA chiefs have described sales of their new ticket scheme as ‘slow but steady’ but expect a surge of interest in the coming weeks.

WHATEVER about the contrasting emotions for Cork and Kerry players and supporters after the sensational climax to the All-Ireland football semi-final at the weekend, the replay will boost GAA central funds in a year in which revenue from the National Leagues took a serious hit because of a combination of factors.

ALLIANZ, the long-term sponsor of the National Leagues, is being shortchanged by the choice of venues for this weekend’s showpiece NFL finals, according to Derry manager Paddy Crozier.

VERY often among GAA people, when the thorny subject of payment for players is introduced, the nay-sayers point to rugby as an example of how things went badly wrong within local clubs when that sport went professional.

The GAA have this afternoon announced details of new proposals for the National Hurling and Football Leagues and the All-Ireland Hurling and Football Championships.

Clare hurler Tony Carmody and Galway footballer Michael Meehan were named today as the Vodafone GAA Players of the Month for March.

THE GAA's Head of Games, Pat Daly has called for a revolutionary restructuring of the All-Ireland Championships and National Leagues, while also calling for Dublin to be represented by four senior teams.

CORK GAA secretary Frank Murphy is concerned that there are key people within the GAA who would like to see the removal of the provincial championships.

THE battle to extend the raft of experimental rules in football and hurling through to the National Leagues was won with Central Council’s backing on Saturday - but the war is far from over.

GAA PRESIDENT Sean Kelly has backed novel rule changes for next year’s secondary provincial competitions which could trigger the introduction of the sin-bin into Gaelic games.

WITH the National Leagues firmly established in their new slot early in the same calendar year, every League game has become crucial.

WHATEVER has happened to the earthquaking Tipperary/Clare rivalry of the last ten years? Time was, and not too long ago, that when these two bitter Munster rivals met, the ground shook and jam-packed stadiums rocked to the sound of ash crashing on ash, bone crunching bone. Even the after-shocks were enough to keep people energised for months.

THE Games Administration Committee will not shirk its responsibility when it comes down to penalising players for acts of indiscipline, chairman Tony O’Keeffe stressed yesterday.