The glamour clash with Setanta Ó hAilpín may not have materialised but Tadhg Kennelly still made the most of his trip to Melbourne as Sydney solidified their play-off position with a comfortable victory over Carlton.

WHILE Championship football can be the most unforgiving of sporting arenas — just ask Joe Kernan this morning — Australian Rules isn’t too far behind its northern hemisphere cousin.

THE same day his opinions on the new breed of code-breakers made headlines Down Under, Tadhg Kennelly also did his talking on the pitch on Saturday night, helping the Sydney Swans to an emphatic victory on his return from injury.

IT was a dreadful weekend for the two Irishmen playing in the AFL at the weekend.

TOMMY WALSH has failed to make the St Kilda panel for tomorrow’s second round NAB Cup game against Sydney Swans.

THE year might have ended in disappointment for Cork, but the long-term prognosis is that football in the county has rarely been healthier.

MICHAEL QUINN continued the hugely positive impression he is making on Aussie Rules experts, with an accomplished performance on his return to the Essendon team that drew with Brisbane 87-87 on Saturday.

ONE of the AFL’s most respected figures has admitted he would love to see a recruiting academy established here in Ireland.

CONTROVERSIAL Aussie Rules agent Ricky Nixon is set to star in a new three-part documentary which begins screening on RTÉ 2 on Sunday night at 9pm.

LAOIS’S Zach Tuohy has reaffirmed his commitment to his county’s Championship cause despite confirmation that he is to spend over a month of the summer in a Carlton Football Club training camp.

ONE of the important points of discussion between the AFL and the GAA in Australia concerned the active recruitment of Gaelic players to the AFL.

FEARS that AFL clubs are to step up their recruitment drive in Ireland have been calmed by Brisbane Lions coach Matthews who claimed yesterday that the club has no immediate plans to snap up more promising young Gaelic footballers.

GAA bosses accept that Munster’s Heineken Cup success has obvious implications for the promotion of hurling and football in the province and specifically in Limerick.

LAOIS star Brendan Quigley looks set to end his contract with the Brisbane Lions and return home.

THE date was mid-July 2002 and the venue was Semple Stadium, a spiritual home for so many Cork hurling teams over the decades. But not this time.

Practice makes perfect for the Kerryman who has blazed a trail to Australia for up and coming GAA stars. Tadhg Kennelly spoke with Colm O’Connor.

CORK GAA chiefs may now defer the county hurling final from Sunday week to enable Seán Óg and Setanta Ó hAilpín play with Ireland in the second test against Australia on the same day.

Manager Pete McGrath has announced his 26-man squad for the forthcoming Coca Cola International Rules series against Australia in Croke Park.

Setanta Ó hAilpín is rumoured to be on the verge of making a return to club hurling this weekend in Cork.

DAMIEN FITZHENRY, who saved Wexford from humiliation in Sunday’s All-Ireland hurling semi-final, has reiterated that the six-week lay-off was not a factor in their defeat by Cork.

CARLTON coach Denis Pagan is adamant that Setanta Ó hAilpín “is very close” to making his AFL debut.

EARLIER in the week, Ben O’Connor was back in Dublin, one of a number of captains who attended the formal launch of the 2004 Guinness hurling championship.

FORMER two-times Texaco Hurler of the Year Brian Corcoran last night trained with the Cork senior side — two-and-a-half years after he retired from the game.

TIPPERARY introduce three newcomers for their opening game in the Allianz National Hurling League against Offaly at Birr on Sunday.

WHEN Cork hurling manager Donal O’Grady was interviewed shortly after the All-Ireland final he offered a number of excuses for their defeat by holders Kilkenny.

Setanta Ó hAilpín has been offered a contract by Aussie Rules football team Carlton.

GAA clubs can expect more and more of their brightest young talents to be targeted by Australian Rules clubs, former Kerry footballer turned AFL star Tadhg Kennelly has warned.

DJ CAREY, an award-winner for the ninth time last year, is a notable absentee from the list of nominees for the 2003 Vodafone GAA Allstars who were chosen in Dublin yesterday by a panel of national journalists.

IF entertainment was a natural by-product of talking points, we might be picking the bones today from one of hurling's great All Ireland finals.

Setanta Ó hAilpín and John Gardiner are fit for selection by Cork’s senior hurling management team after coming through the Munster U21 final unscathed.

JOHN QUANE is unlikely to be in the starting 15 when the Limerick selectors sit down tomorrow night to pick their team for Sunday’s Munster SFC final against Kerry.

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ON A day when DJ Carey confirmed yet again his greatness, perhaps the most outstanding single fact to emerge from yesterday's game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh was that Cork's Setanta Ó hAilpín has confirmed his own growing stature in the game.