Behind every good political leader stands a formidable adviser, ready to steer a party through the darkest days and to guide its members to victory during the good ones.

Phoney War or Cold War? A bit of both, really.

There was no handshake between the managers when this ended.

The harsh and punishing reality of life among Gaelic football’s elite stared Meath in the face as they made their return to Division One after a 14-year absence.

A dogged Tyrone gave newly-promoted Meath a flavour of the realities of competing in Gaelic football’s top tier as they eased to a five-point success at Healy Park.

It was no surprise that new Clare hurling boss, Brian Lohan, picked a player in his own likeness as captain for the year ahead. John Conlon may inhabit a different end of the field than the Banner legend did during his playing days, but the differences between the two end there.

Here is a selection of people who are starting interesting new roles with public and private organisations in Ireland.

Ireland’s foreign minister privately told the British home secretary that the controversy surrounding the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four cases was “seriously affecting” the relationship between the two nations, state papers have revealed.

Clare star John Conlon says the panel has been energised by the arrival of new manager Brian Lohan, though he feels the outgoing management team of Gerry O’Connor and Donal Moloney were “disrespected”.

The result means the Women's National League Champions sit in second spot in Group 10, with their final group game on Tuesday against Maltese side Birkirkara.

Donegal were 9-point winners against Meath at the sun-kissed Ballybofey, although the scoreboard only tells half the story of a gripping contest.

They were clinging on by their fingertips at the finish in Portlaoise but Meath are through to the Super 8s for the first time after edging an epic Round 4 qualifier.

A mentally-ill woman who kicked a pregnant woman in the stomach in an unprovoked attack has been jailed for two and a half years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

If Meath’s Michael Newman had swapped jerseys with Niall Scully before the start of yesterday’s Leinster final, then all six starting Dublin forwards would have been on the scoresheet.

There’s so much to be taken from those famous lyrics to the adopted Munster anthem ‘Stand Up and Fight’.

Housing advice charity, Threshold, has dealt with more than 600 cases in Limerick since the start of 2018 as rent pressures continue to grow in the city.

All-Ireland champions Limerick are all but guaranteed of a top-three finish in Munster after this 18-point thumping of Clare.

The powerful midfielder crashed home a goal in the 31st minute to put Meath into a lead they wouldn't relinquish and his second with nine minutes to go killed the contest.

The former boss of the collapsed charities fundraising service Pembroke Dynamic intends to contest High Court proceedings taken against him by the firm's liquidator.

The Clare roar was nowhere to be heard yesterday as the relative silence of Cusack Park in the second half was eventually broken by chants of “Tipp, Tipp, Tipp”.

Rising Meath star James Conlon hopes the team’s graph is on an upward curve in the Leinster championship.

Two goals in as many first-half minutes laid the platform for favourites Meath to cruise past Carlow in Portlaoise and through to the Leinster SFC quarter-finals.

Business as usual in Kilkenny, Tipp are kidding no-one, but it’s a revision of the best-laid week-one plans for Messrs Meyler, Fanning, and Kenny, says Derek McGrath.

Castlelyons’ Niall O’Leary is the new face in the named Cork team to take on Tipperary in Sunday’s Munster SHC Round 1 clash as John Meyler goes with 13 of the team that were defeated by Limerick in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.

The President of the Teachers Union of Ireland Seamus Lahart warned Education Minister Joe McHugh that the issue of unequal pay is not going away.

The charity spoke out in the wake of the eviction into homelessness of a young mother, Stephanie, and her three children from the Cork city home she had been renting for nine years.

Clare’s Jamie Shanahan has been ruled out of the Munster senior hurling championship after undergoing surgery to alleviate a long-standing back issue.

Convicted fraudster Peter Conlon, who founded the collapsed Pembroke Dynamic fundraising platform business, is practising "transformative meditation", Kriya yoga, and doing 25,000 steps a day, the High Court has heard.

Gardaí have started a manhunt for a gang of robbers who stole a “substantial amount” of cash from a shop in Co. Limerick overnight.

Nadege Kibamba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo but with an address at the North Circular Road, Dublin 7 admitted the benefit fraud.

Clare legend Anthony Daly says the decision to grant Waterford home advantage for their Munster SHC games this summer has blown the provincial championship “wide open”.

Yesterday in Cusack Park was a pick ‘n’ mix of everything the league can give you. High scores and stirring comebacks, spectacular goals, and lapses in concentration. Something for everyone in the audience.

For those spilling out of Páirc Uí Rinn as the rain closed in on Saturday evening, one question dominated conversations.

Clare hurling joint manager Gerry O’Connor has identified a trio of national league games that he thinks will prime the Banner for a tilt at the Munster championship next summer.

The imprisoned boss of a fundraising platform business at the centre of an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of €3.8m in charity donations intends to contest High Court orders freezing his assets.

A motorist using the Merchants Quay car park in Cork City caught a member of staff by the throat, video-recorded him and threatened to knock him out.

At the end of the match yesterday, I shook hands with Michael Lyster. It may be my last time doing a live TV game with Michael, who retires from RTÉ at the end of this year, and I wanted to acknowledge his help to me, and his absolute professionalism, over the years.

The Munster crown weighed heavy on Cork’s head last year but it shouldn’t be a burden this time around.

Olive Esler, who handles the social media promotion for The Sunday Game was manic busy throughout yesterday afternoon.

There was a delay in Cork’s return to proceedings after half-time yesterday. They had gone in four points behind, but it could have been more. Cork used the time well at the break and were a different outfit in the second period.

If a hurler of the year was picked today, John Conlon would be edging Galway’s Pádraic Mannion for the title and his co-manager Donal Moloney has commended the leadership shown by the Clonlara man.

There’s a touch of the 2013 momentum building behind Clare and Cork will need to thread extremely carefully in Semple Stadium next Sunday as they attempt to retain the Munster SHC title.

In his seminal book Moneyball, Michael Lewis observed that the play-offs could frustrate the hell out of some of the most progressive front offices in baseball because it offered such a small sample size.

If it counts for anything — and it should — Clare feel they are more deserving of their Munster final spot this year than last season’s appearance, according to Shane O’Donnell.