Larry Ryan pays tribute to Jimmy Magee and remembers his best moments...

Say what you want about the quality of fare served up this summer, but where post-match interviews are concerned, GAA followers have been spoilt.

The dissatisfaction of Cork clubs with the lack of access to intercounty hurling players was expressed by a number of delegates at last night’s county board meeting at the Nemo Rangers complex.

Babs Keating has called on Congress delegates to vote against the motion to bring forward the All-Ireland finals by two weeks.

And just like that, Waterford are again everyone’s second favourite team.

Kevin Hennessy can’t see Cork winning the All-Ireland title this year due to the seismic impact of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Tipperary.

SPORTSTAR product endorsement — it’s changed a lot. I’ve just watched a short internet video of Munster rugby player, Paul O’Connell, and boxer, Katie Taylor, talking about what drives them. They swap sports. Paul spars in the ring. Katie plays rugby.

For the last 12 months there has been a welcome change in the narrative around Laois hurling.

AIB MUNSTER CLUB SHC SEMI-FINAL:

With a first county senior hurling title since 1991 safely under their belt, the next focus for Midleton has to be the Munster title — so says former great John Fenton. The only Cork club to have won the provincial crown since his own side did it in 1987 has been Newtownshandrum.

Peter Smith was on the last Midleton team to win the county SHC title in 1991, as part of a side which featured household names like Ger Fitzgerald, Kevin Hennessy, John Fenton, Pat Hartnett and Denis Mulcahy.

You can go back to the glory days of the Cork senior hurling final when the big three dominated, crowds of over 30,000 turning up to see the great players in what Cork people called ‘the little All-Ireland’.

Midleton 2-15 Sarsfields 2-13

Cork folk in Duhallow are usually gearing up for the All-Ireland football final, but the rise of hurling in the division is no accident.

Where once Cork could field All-Ireland fifteens without leaving the city boundaries, now the Rebel hurling strongholds are flung far and wide, from Senior to Junior, says Michael Moynihan.

Ballyboden St Enda’s became the first Dublin club to capture the One Direct Kilmacud Crokes All-Ireland Senior Sevens title, after a 4-13 to 3-11 win over fellow Southsiders Cuala in wet conditions at Glenalbyn on Saturday.

The last time Cork played Limerick in a Munster final, Kevin Hennessy picked up his final Munster medal. He’s been through quite a bit since, including a brush with death, but still has his trademark bright outlook

However hard they sell us Adam Scott’s win as an inspirational recovery from calamity.

“It’s not about the size of the dog in the fight, it’s about the size of the fight in the dog – work with what you’ve got.”

Hurling Development Workgroup (HDW) chairman Tommy Lanigan said it is a shame that either Cork or Clare will be relegated from Division 1A — but insists each county knew the repercussions of finishing in the bottom two.

As we head into the fourth weekend of Allianz Hurling League action, a pattern is beginning to emerge. More and more teams are playing the possession game of short stick-passing.

Last Saturday up in Croke Park a small group of men were entrusted to make a massively important decision about the future of the game of hurling.

As I read the Irish Examiner (Jan 22) and about US President Barack Obama’s inauguration, I was taken aback by the editorial.

The future of the unique art of hurling is at risk. As supporters of our sport, we urgently need to ignite the debate.

Wexford rounded off a remarkable three-year run at Croke Park yesterday, leaving us in no doubt that they are the greatest team of the modern era.

It’s gone down as one of the greatest goals of all time.

The family of a young boy buried in a sand dune for over 10 minutes are arranging to meet the four men who saved the 10-year-old’s life.

A man diagnosed with head and neck cancer 10 years ago will run past the hospital which saved his life next month when he takes part in the Great Limerick Half Marathon.

The GAA National Hurling Development Plan was officially launched today by GAA President Christy Cooney at Croke Park.

FOR the first time in five years I can say that Christmas was almost pleasurable — and I have to give all the credit for that to US President Barack Obama.

JOHN FENTON should be looking forward to celebrating son Matthew’s 30th birthday this month — instead he will visit the Cork cemetery where he keeps a memorial to the US Marine Corps sergeant who died from the terrible injuries he suffered in Iraq in 2006.

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”.

THE Cork County Board executive motion to appoint three executive members and three club delegates to select the county’s next senior hurling manager was last night rubber-stamped by the delegates at a board meeting. The motion received 70 votes and defeated five other motions that were proposed on the night by various clubs.

CORK hurling legends Jimmy Barry-Murphy, John Fenton and Denis Coughlan are not expected to be involved in the selection of the county’s next senior hurling manager despite being nominated by two clubs to reprise the roles they filled in selecting Denis Walsh in March 2009.

CORK GAA clubs have been given until August 2 to submit proposals as to what process will be used to select the county’s next senior hurling manager.

THE man’s sport is swimming but, as he was speaking, we were all thinking hurling.

THE appointment process for selecting the next Cork senior hurling manager is expected to be overseen by the county board rather than the three-man independent committee used to select Denis Walsh in March 2009.

SO there it all was in your issue of Friday, August 21 ... the end of US combat missions in Iraq and the return home of thousands of US soldiers to their families and loved ones.

GER FARRAGHER is one of the purest strikers of a ball in hurling, a midfielder in the mould of Cork’s John Fenton from the 70s and 80s – poetry in motion.

IT might not have been Leaders Questions time in the Dáil but the tough grilling Taoiseach Brian Cowen faced from teenagers yesterday afternoon might have made him wish he’d stayed in Belfast.

IT grieves me that my remarks (Letters, June 16) in relation to soldiers and doctors and their relative usefulness in Haiti have caused offence — they were not intended to hurt. Nothing is as painful for a parent of any nationality as having to bury his son and my heart goes out to John Fenton. (Letters, January 19).

MY response to Patrick Dolan’s question (Letters, January 18) concerning who will be of the most benefit to Haiti quake victims — “the trained killers or the trained curers” — is one of incredulity.