When Gerry McEntee first arrived on the Meath scene as a player in the mid-1970s, he stepped straight into the slipstream of Dublin.

Five All-Ireland finals that went to replays have produced lessons that can be applied today...

Injury time – that’s where Irish football finds itself right now.

On the day before he left for Syria, Eoin Larkin talked about tactics, tours of duty and almost jacking in hurling last May.

Eoin Larkin will be on the sideline for a couple of weeks. Here’s a tip: don’t be in a rush to sit next to him at a game.

I will never forget the day when I realised that the ordinary people of Ireland had completely lost the run of themselves, writes Paddy Heaney.

Leinster will play at a redeveloped and a rebranded RDS Arena after the announcement yesterday that naming rights will be likely sought for a new 25,000- capacity stadium to be unveiled in the late summer of 2017.

It’s with no shortage of relief or sense of clarity that Alan Dillon can now speak of his fitness.

Former junior minister Shane McEntee died as a result of asphyxiation, an inquest heard last night.

Fine Gael has put in place counselling services for TDs and senators who may be “experiencing difficulties” in their professional or personal lives after the tragic death of minister of state Shane McEntee last year.

Former Dublin manager Tommy Carr criticised the current lack of involvement of players from Meath’s glory era of the 1980s and ’90s and said other counties’ weakness should not be an excuse to split Dublin.

A lot of reflection is needed by the media and politicians following the tragic and sudden death of minister of state at the Department of Agriculture, Shane McEntee, the Tánaiste has said.

A brother of deceased Minister of State Shane McEntee has criticised internet 'trolls' who post criticism on websites without thinking of the consequences.

Leitrim forward Emlyn Mulligan insists he has no plans to declare for the Dublin footballers despite seeking a club transfer to the St Brigid’s club in Blanchardstown.

At the end of Kerry’s ‘Golden Years’ era in 1986, the next four All-Ireland football championships were shared by Meath and Cork — the significance being that the Royals had been as good as wiped out in Leinster over the preceding 15 years, while the Rebels managed to escape the clutches of Kerry just once in 12 Munster final meetings.

Colm O’Rourke is among the nominations put forward for the Meath job.

Meath chairman Barney Allen says the identity of Seamus McEnaney’s successor is unlikely to be known until October.

“WITH my track record?” smiled Dessie Dolan after he was asked if he fancied taking Garrycastle’s injury-time free.

THE fall before the rise. The trough that preceded the peak.

DECEMBER football doesn’t enjoy the most enviable of reputations but the Dublin and Laois champions made light of the heavy and Baltic conditions yesterday to deliver one of the best games seen in the last 12 months.

CLASS easily overcame courage in Navan where the quality of Dublin champions St Brigid’s shone through to secure a Leinster club SFC quarter-final spot.

Tomorrow

WHEN Gerry McEntee strides out to patrol the Páirc Táilteann sideline tomorrow it will be a homecoming in more ways than one.

IT was billed as the crowning moment of a sensational season for the Brogan brothers but, in the end, a little known substitute for St Brigid’s stole the show.

DUBLIN GAA chief Andy Kettle has admitted ‘Plan B is thin on the ground’ if Pat Gilroy doesn’t agree to stay on tonight.

ST BRIGID’S manager Mark Byrne conceded he thought his team were dead and buried at half-time of this Dublin SFC semi-final on Saturday.

IN HIS role as guest speaker at a Derry supporters’ function some years ago, Anthony Tohill revealed one of the best tips he ever received in a changing room.

A CONSULTANT surgeon has told an inquest into the death of a Limerick man following his transfer to a Dublin hospital that he did not know if transferring him earlier “would have made any difference”.

MICK O’DWYER, learned long ago that it was better never to say never when it comes to his plans to walk away from inter-county management and the Waterville man revealed yesterday that the clamour for his services is as strong as ever.

GRAHAM REILLY is adamant Meath are among the best six footballing counties despite narrowly avoiding relegation to Allianz FL Division 3 on Sunday.

A STORMING second-half, powered by the magnificence of Mark Vaughan and Brian Kavanagh, sealed Kilmacud Crokes’ seventh Dublin SFC title at Parnell Park yesterday.

NEW Galway football manager Tomás O Flatharta hopes to have his backroom team in place in the coming weeks. The Kerryman, who has taken over from Joe Kernan for the next three years said he was really looking forward to the job and would have no problem combining it with his daytime profession as a business manager with AIB in Dublin.

The shockwaves raised by Eamonn O’Brien’s ousting were still reverberating around Meath yesterday with officials, players and supporters struggling to come to terms with Monday night’s dramatic events.

THE shockwaves raised by Eamonn O’Brien’s ousting were still reverberating around Meath yesterday with officials, players and supporters struggling to come to terms with Monday night’s dramatic events.

THERE’s this red line raiding against the Donegal rearguard and it’s late on and the game in the balance.

THEY were seven short words which summed up the seven longest days in Shane Duffy’s young life: “I’m just so happy to be alive.”

Shane Duffy was today looking to the future a week after coming within seconds of death.

Brian Duffy believed he was being asked to say goodbye to his footballer son Shane as the teenager prepared to undergo life-saving surgery.

SHANE DUFFY was yesterday transferred from intensive care to the high dependency unit at the Mater Hospital and, if he continues to make good progress, could be discharged by the weekend.

Everton and Republic of Ireland defender Shane Duffy was said to be recovering well tonight following life-saving surgery after a freak accident during a training match.