Just before half-time, I glanced down from the RTÉ box and observed Brian Cody spitting into his hands and rubbing them together.

Patrick’s Horgan heroic 3-10 wasn’t enough to save Cork as Kilkenny’s second-half strength proved too much for them.

A cakewalk for Cork in Mullingar as they eased themselves into an All-Ireland quarter-final against Kilkenny in Croke Park in seven days’ time.

Clare restored pride with a battling performance but exited the Munster championship yesterday despite beating Cork in Ennis.

The throb and womp from the Marquee provided the mood music, literally, on Saturday night to the end of an odd week in the hurling championship.

Cork cruised past troubled Waterford in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, eventually winning by 13 points.

Cork’s Championship is well and truly back up-and-running after this fine victory over the All-Ireland champions in the LIT Gaelic Grounds.

Cork manager John Meyler paid tribute to Tipperary yesterday after the Premier County’s victory in Páirc Ui Chaoimh, picking out their “clinical” second goal as the key moment in the game.

The new provincial hurling championships have a strong advocate in Cork hurling captain Seamus Harnedy, even if he admits now that he was “sceptical enough beforehand” last year.

Diarmuid O’Sullivan has been nothing if not consistent.

Cork captain Seamus Harnedy will come face to face with the referee who has sent him off twice in the last 15 months in Sunday week’s Munster SHC Round 1 game against Tipperary.

Cork senior hurling manager John Meyler is looking forward to his side’s Munster championship opener in Pairc Ui Chaoimh — and hoping the post-match conversation won’t be about the playing surface.

It’s another couple of months before Sinéad McNulty commences her role as chief executive of the Camogie Association but what should be at the top of her inbox is obvious: the outdated rules that govern the game.

Cork captain Seamus Harnedy and Kilkenny’s Conor Delaney are free to play their counties’ respective provincial championship round one games following a decision by the GAA’s Central Appeals Committee (CAC) in Croke Park last night.

Seamus Harnedy hopes the GAA’s Central Appeals Committee (CAC) in Croke Park this evening clear him to play against Tipperary on May 12.

Twenty-seven days since he was sent off and Cork senior hurling captain Seamus Harnedy’s championship availability is still not clear, admits John Meyler.

The warmest round of applause on Leeside ever for a Kilkenny team? Considering the context, the sincerity of the welcome was no surprise.

Cork GAA top-brass are “doing everything possible” to free up Seamus Harnedy for the county’s Munster SHC opener in early May.

The Cork-Kilkenny ‘relegation play-off’ is set to go ahead this weekend if only to ensure suspended players don’t serve their bans in the first round of the provincial championships.

Cork hurling captain Seamus Harnedy hopes his team “can learn from 2018” as they continue their quest for All-Ireland glory.

It remains to be seen if he picks up an All-Star early next month, yet the nomination alone is an endorsement of the second coming of Daniel Kearney.

Late in yesterday’s county final, Seamus Harnedy went down in a heap, with first-aid attendants looking concerned, as they moved his head and neck gingerly.

Not since Blackrock overcame Imokilly back in 2001 has a team struck four goals on the concluding afternoon of the Cork hurling championship.

On the way into the match yesterday, I met Mark Landers, who was doing co-commentary for local radio, writes Anthony Daly.

The Imokilly press evening was winding down when the division’s successes of the nineties were recalled.

Séamus Harnedy and his Imokilly teammates had just seen off UCC in their Cork SHC semi-final when they sat down to find out their final opponents.

Cork legend Diarmuid ‘The Rock’ O’Sullivan has hit out at the county's 'fickle' fans after yesterday's All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Limerick.

Two items stood out from John Meyler’s debrief.

Fine margins. Iconic moments. Inspirational acts of skill. Croke Park was awash with them at the weekend.

The focus yesterday on Anthony Nash’s puckouts was more fixed than is normally the case.

Some of the talking points from this weekend's GAA action.

Better scheduling should mean Cork’s All-Ireland semi-final preparations aren’t as upset as they were last year, believes Colm Spillane.

Dreams do come true. 19 years ago, Seamus Harnedy thought he was in dreamland lining up for a picture with the Munster Hurling championship trophy beside his local Killeagh heroes, Mark Landers and Joe Deane.

There were flying elbows, kicks and punches, and even a chair thrown too.

The role at wing-forward is a new one for the Sarsfields man but he has thrived in it, helping to establish himself a place in the 15, which he couldn't manage in the 2017 Championship.

The winners of the Cork-Tyrone game will be rewarded with a home fixture against Dublin in the Super 8s.

"Why are you showing this?"

Emotions ran high following Louth’s TG4 Leinster JFC final win over Carlow yesterday, with the widow of former manager Michael McKeown included in the post-match celebrations.

They hadn’t even put the cup in the front of the bus when John Meyler began sizing up Cork’s next assignment.

Stephen Barry picks out three talking points from yesterday's Munster final in Thurles...

"I’m sorry one of our national committees locked horns with one of our county boards."

GAA President John Horan wants to ban concerts and other non-GAA events from Croke Park during July and August each year.

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.