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

When you referee a provincial final it puts you in a good position for later on in the year and both Paud O’Dwyer and John Keenan will feel they didn’t lose any ground after their performances yesterday.

Lee Chin confessed himself to being “a bit lost for words” afterwards, an occurrence he promptly acknowledged to be unusual. But, in the circumstances, why not?

Summer certainly hasn’t started temperature-wise but from a refereeing perspective it did yesterday. The games in Cavan and Kilkenny swung the Championship into life.

Another afternoon of liquid wristwork and fluid movement from Tipperary yesterday put Waterford to the sword with commendable economy.

There are occasions when referees make life difficult for themselves and yesterday’s first half in the Gaelic Grounds was a prime example of that.

Carlow recorded their first ever away win in Division One hurling today, and they couldn’t have done it in more dramatic circumstances as they came from 11 points down to outfight Offaly in Bord na Móna O’Connor Park, condemning the Faithful County to relegation to Division Two next year.

Yesterday in Cusack Park was a pick ‘n’ mix of everything the league can give you. High scores and stirring comebacks, spectacular goals, and lapses in concentration. Something for everyone in the audience.

So far, so good for Paraic Fanning in Division 1B of the Allianz League.

Where to start with this enthralling weekend? It was unbelievable in so many ways. To have two outstandingly exciting All-Ireland semi-finals one after the other. Referees get just as thrilled about these days too.

As we wave goodbye to the inaugural Munster senior hurling championship round robin this weekend, John Fogarty makes some observations on the old and the new in Sunday’s final round.

HawkEye is unlikely to be in operation at Páirc Uí Chaoimh for any stage of this year’s provincial or All-Ireland championships.

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

I came in for a bit of criticism during the week about Offaly football matters, which I’ll come back to shortly, but I’m never going to shy away from calling it like I see it. At referees seminars, I would have been known for speaking my mind, whether I was right or wrong, and it’s an attitude I’ll be sticking to here, writes Brian Gavin.

Barry Kelly hasn’t retired. Not officially, anyway. The 2017 season was his last as an inter-county referee but not as a match official.

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

Jason Flynn's 1-9 haul eased All-Ireland title holders Galway to an anticipated victory at Parnell Park, setting up an Allianz hurling league promotion shoot-out with Limerick next weekend.

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.

Kilkenny 4-18 Westmeath 0-18: A flood of early goals helped Kilkenny cruise to a 12-point Walsh Cup win in Mullingar yesterday, setting up a semi-final clash with Wexford next weekend.

A young Cork man who is inclined to forget his own name was jailed for five months yesterday for threatening a member of An Garda Síochána.

Noel O’Donoghue, from the Cuala club in Dublin, enjoyed a stellar refereeing career that spanned over 30 years, taking charge of the 1980 and 1982 All-Ireland SHC finals in that time. Today, the 76-year-old will operate the HawkEye score detection technology when Tipperary and Kilkenny lock horns at GAA HQ...

Westmeath staged a strong second-half display, to maintain their unbeaten run in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship at Austin Stack Park, Tralee this afternoon.

Offaly 0-14 Limerick 1-19: Limerick’s Shannonside derby clash with Clare in a fortnight’s time will be a promotion showdown regardless of results next weekend after Limerick eased to an eight-point win over Offaly at O’Connor Park in Tullamore yesterday.

No question about it, the biggest talking point across the weekend’s games was the penalty decision by Pádraig Hughes in Killarney.

Clare 3-26 Offaly 0-15

Irish Pride Bakeries, one of the largest bakeries in Ireland, has gone into receivership.

The Tipperary county board may yet turn to the CAC in their bid to have Seamus Callanan’s red card against Offaly overturned.

Allianz HL Division 1 quarter-final

Antrim 1-12 Limerick 0-23: Limerick’s hurlers got their first win of the 2015 Allianz League Division 1B campaign with a hard-fought 0-23 to 1-12 win over Antrim at Ballycastle yesterday.

AIB All-Ireland Club SHC semi-final: Kilmallock (Limerick) 2-19 Portaferry (Down) 0-12: Expect one Limerick town to be empty on St. Patrick’s Day.

Ballyhale Shamrocks 2-15 Kilmacud Crokes 0-12

It’s 50 years since arguably the greatest Connacht football rivalry of them all fired its first shots.

Dublin 1-17 Laois 1-10

Carlow 0-14 Westmeath 1-09

So big, bad Sky Sports are going to broadcast Gaelic Games. The GAA has sold out. Profit has replaced principles. And the ordinary Gael has been shafted once again.

Ballysaggart selector Pat Bennett regrets any offence caused by his comments following last Saturday week’s All-Ireland junior club hurling final replay.

Leinster GAA officials have strongly defended the performance of referee John Keenan in Saturday’s All-Ireland JHC final replay.