James Owens will be the All-Ireland SHC final man in the middle for the second year running on Sunday week.

The GAA’s newly-appointed national match officials manager is open to the idea of more technology being used to assist referees, but has questioned just how far it can go.

There’s no value in told-you-so’s and there’s no satisfaction in them either but what happened yesterday was in the offing.

It’s not often golf takes precedence over Gaelic games for me but this was an exception — and oh what an exception.

You can throw a bone to Brian Cody but you can’t expect him to bite on it.

The Leinster Council is confident the attendance at Sunday’s provincial hurling final will surpass the crowd of 47,000 which endured last Sunday’s one-sided Leinster football decider.

Davy Fitzgerald will have to plan for Sunday's Leinster final without Aidan Nolan who has received a two-game suspension after being red carded after the full-time whistle against Kilkenny.

On June 17, 2012, Waterford goalkeeper Stephen O’Keeffe (affectionately known as Soky) spotted an opportunity.

It now seems with every week that the GAA are being given more reason to cut down on the numbers populating the sidelines.

September 1, 1997. The day John Kiely began teaching in The Abbey was Conor O’Brien’s first as a student in the Tipperary town secondary school. Just as there was heartache for a young O’Brien in seeing Tipperary go down to Clare later that month, there had been for Kiely as a member of Tom Ryan’s Limerick panel against Wexford 12 months previous.

Head high tackles are what the GAA have been keen to crack down on this summer but the application of the rule regarding them over the weekend left a lot to be desired.

When Dublin, trailing by three points, were awarded a free deep into injury-time at Parnell Park and centre-back Sean Moran strode forward, the mind was drawn back to Croke Park last year.

Summer is almost upon us but forgive me if I’m not of a sunny disposition. The standard of hurling refereeing is slipping and I fear it could have a major bearing on what we see in the coming weeks.

The GAA are set to return to naming a panel of 14 referees across their top two hurling championships.

Tipperary GAA chiefs were forced to cancel a recruitment course for new referees in Thurles last night due to a lack of numbers.

NUIG manager Jeff Lynskey was thrilled as the Galway college sent holders UL crashing out of the Fitzgibbon Cup to create a Group A decider against UCC.

Reigning Fitzgibbon Cup champions UL have a job on their hands to emerge from the group of death after losing their opening fixture to UCC this afternoon.

De La Salle College has set up a semi-final date with Midleton CBS in the Dr Harty Cup following their blistering first-half performance at the Fraher Field that saw them claim victory over St Colman’s College.

YESTERDAY’S events in Thurles told us more about a man who wasn’t on the field than one who was. If anybody was in doubt about the Westmeath man taking charge of the All-Ireland final, they aren’t now.

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.

What an amazing spectacle in Thurles yesterday and James McGrath can believe he contributed to it, writes Brian Gavin.

Dublin might have greater home comfort than any other side in the Super 8, but they will have one less day to prepare for their All-Ireland semi-final than their opponents should they top Group 2.

Yesterday was a day for hurling referees to step up to the mark and both James McGrath and Fergal Horgan did just that, in Semple Stadium and Croke Park.

It gives me no satisfaction criticising hurling referees but after the provincial round robins finished up yesterday, the standard is not at the level it should be.

Of the three games I took in over the weekend, the toughest to referee was clearly the one in Salthill.

For Pearse Stadium and Cusack Park, the wait is over.

Galway football captain Damien Comer has credited Paddy Tally with bringing greater directness to the county’s attacking play.

Wexford 1-23 Galway 0-23: Well, the revolution isn’t just being televised. It’s being snapped and shared and streamed so much by the people of Wexford, that every advance being made by the county hurlers is being captured for posterity as it’s happening.

Yet another Croke Cup final beckons for St Kieran’s College of Kilkenny after they held on to narrowly defeat a game Ardscoil Rís side in this second semi-final in Clonmel.

"I had a bad injury myself in that area, and my young lad had as well. It's life-changing."

Galway manager Micheál Donoghue wasn’t best pleased with the performance of referee Cathal McAllister.

A sixth Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup title for University of Limerick at Mallow today following victory over first-time finalists Dublin City University.

The walls outside Mr Murphy’s classroom are postered with newspaper cuttings.

Cork 1-24 Kilkenny 0-24: This first NHL game - under lights - in the redeveloped Pairc Ui Chaoimh saw Cork drive to a thrilling win in front of 16,180 spectators.

Sportsfile photographers Seb Daly and Brendan Moran captured a particularly wonderful moment for Galway manager Micheál Donoghue’s family in the moments after Fergal Horgan blew the full-time whistle at Croke Park last Sunday.

John Coleman on the pressure facing All-Ireland final referee Fergal Horgan.

Waterford defender Tadhg de Búrca will play no part in Sunday’s All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final against Cork, after his last-ditch appeal to the independent Disputes Resolution Authority failed, writes Jackie Cahill.

Michael Moynihan previews the repeat pairing of Cork v Waterford in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Limerick 1-20 Cork 1-18