Tipperary say Michael Ryan will continue as manager until the conclusion of the 2020 championship after the county board yesterday threw their support behind the embattled Premier boss.

Tipperary defender Michael Cahill was forced to retire with a hamstring injury 34 minutes into his club Thurles Sarsfields 1-19 to 1-16 victory over Upperchurch-Drombane in the Mid Tipperary SHC quarter-final.

Ballygunner came out on top in this epic Munster club SHC quarter-final at Walsh Park after extra time.

Borris-Ileigh 0-11 Thurles Sarsfields 1-24: It’s no accident that Thurles Sarsfields collected a fourth Tipperary SHC title in a row yesterday in Semple Stadium.

There were three county hurling finals and four county football finals played around the country today.

’The cock will be there Sunday,” confirms Borris-Ileigh chairman Mark Stapleton. “It’s a tradition and the older generation want to keep it.”

Conor Stakelum, 24, is Ireland’s top male ice skater. The four-time Irish champion, from Stillorgan in Dublin, developed his skills originally on the Dundalk Ice Dome and in Belfast, but is now training full-time in Dundee, Scotland. Last weekend, in Germany, he became the first Irishman to qualify for figure skating’s senior European Championships.

A proposal on the appointment of the next Cork County Board secretary will be circulated to clubs ahead of the next board meeting.

To grasp just how novel this upcoming All-Ireland final will be, you need only look at the sideline and the profile of the two selectorial teams compared to who was there last year, writes Kieran Shannon.

Michael Ryan says he and his Tipperary management team have found fate “to be fickle” this year and believes it has replenished the group’s appetite to retain their All-Ireland title.

At around 4.15am yesterday morning, some boy-racer thought the Ennis-Kilrush road was Siverstone or Mondello Park. The car started doing donuts, the screeching tyres laying assault to my eardrums. I had to be up at 6.30 anyway to meet the Limerick minor bus at 8 but that was my night’s sleep done and dusted.

Captaining Tipperary means facing up to searching questions on and off the field. Brendan Maher has been doing that all year, and when you ask him if the Premier County’s record against Kilkenny is something he’s conscious of, he doesn’t back down at all.

Seamus Callanan rejects the idea Tipperary are in transition following the departure of Eamon O’Shea as manager and mass retirements over the winter.

Last year’s champions Thurles CBS made it two wins from two in Group C of the Dr Harty Cup as they pulled away from Scoil na Tríonóide Naofa of Doon in the final quarter at Toomevara yesterday.

The President of the GAA, Mr Nickey Brennan has extended his deepest sympathies and those of the Association to the family of former Tipperary All-Ireland hurling medal winner Pat Stakelum.