Whether you are a hurler, hurling fan, hurling coach, hurling administrator, whatever aspect of the hurling world you exist in, you tend to be in a minority.

Westmeath boss Joe Quaid says the GAA only care about the highest tier of hurling and has backed calls for all league finals to take place in Croke Park.

Tommy Murphy never took a drink in his life, but three and a half decades as PRO of Carlow GAA brought him through the front doors of a lot of pubs. He saw one-liners based on Gaelic games floor more men than bad whiskey.

There’s something about the 1930s that sets it apart in the history of hurling, writes Paul Rouse

At the height of the debate about opening up Croke Park to ‘foreign’ games, a hurling aficionado of my acquaintance offered up a soundbite for the ages.

The time is coming when the provincial football championships will cease to exist, says Waterford manager Tom McGlinchey, accusing the GAA of putting all their energy into developing the Super 8s.

Concern about distraction was the only reason that Davy Fitzgerald and Wexford chose not to contest his proposed eight-week suspension.

I have written on these pages on more than one occasion regarding the need for reform of the All-Ireland Football Championship, writes Seán Kelly

Meath 4-21 Antrim 5-17: Victorious Meath manager Martin Ennis finished up Saturday evening’s post-match media briefing with a wry smile. “I hope to God none of ye lot are ringing me tomorrow!”

Former GAA president Seán Kelly maintains that a 16-county intermediate All-Ireland championship is the way forward for inter-county Gaelic football.

Any “B” championship must carry the incentive of its decider being staged as the curtain-raiser to the All-Ireland final, says former Leinster chairman Martin Skelly.

Someday someone will do a feature, perhaps even a book on the 10 greatest hurling matches ever played.

The recent retirement of Kilkenny’s Henry Shefflin from inter-county hurling has renewed interest in the best-ever hurler controversy.

Allianz Hurling League Division 1A

Paudie Butler believes the decision not to fill the Director of Hurling role over the past four years has provided GAA top-brass with clarity as to the position’s wide-reaching potential.

The best place to begin any appraisal of Tommy Walsh’s career is not with the All-Ireland medals, not with the All Stars but on a Sunday afternoon at Walsh Park in the summer of 1997.

“There is no real thought given to the development of hurling in weaker counties.” So says Kerry hurling trainer Tom Howard.

This year's Ulster Senior Hurling Championship final has been re-fixed for Sunday, November 3 - almost four months after Down and reigning champions Antrim were originally due to play each other.

GAA Director General Páraic Duffy believes a Team Ulster competing in the All-Ireland championship would be “brilliant” for hurling.

In hurling there’s a cycle every 20 years or so in the middle section of the decade. “New teams” surface and hold sway until they fade and the big guns boom again.

Having watched five hurling games this weekend — three live and two on TV, I have a lot of sympathy for referees in how they make a distinction between what’s a free and what’s legitimate.

RTÉ Sport have been criticised by three counties for their coverage of hurling on The Sunday Game.

Phil Hogan was 21 and playing for Tullaroan when he put up his hand one day to catch a ball.

Conor Grogan’s 90th minute point secured a sensational victory for Tyrone in this Lory Meagher thriller at Croke Park on Saturday.

After 180 minutes of action, London eventually booked their place in next weekend's Christy Ring Cup Final thanks to a 2-16 to 2-13 extra-time win over Down in Ruislip.

Christy Ring hurled at senior inter-county level for Cork for 24 seasons, from his debut in 1939 to his retirement in 1962, during which time he became the most storied hurler of all time.

Tyrone got off to a flying start in the Allianz HL Division 3A with a 3-18 to 2-9 win over Sligo at Healy Park in Omagh yesterday.

It’s been widely argued that the greatest obstacle to the growth of hurling is the GAA’s other major sport, gaelic football. Yesterday in Croke Park the National Hurling Development Plan was launched, a multi-phased strategy that also includes the growth and promotion of camogie — the battleground? Gaelic football’s heartlands.

Dublin playmaker Alan Brogan capped off a memorable inter-county season for himself by winning the GAA GPA Footballer of the Year award at tonight's banquet event in the capital.

THERE are fears within the Dublin camp Alan Brogan and Stephen Cluxton’s inclusion in the shortlist for the Opel GAA-GPA All Stars Footballer of the Year may split the vote.

Dublin duo Alan Brogan and Stephen Cluxton are in contention for the GAA-GPA footballer of the year award, while Kilkenny pair Michael Fennelly and Tommy Walsh and Tipperary's Pádraic Maher are vying for the hurling accolade.

THIS year’s All Star footballers and hurlers will each receive €1,500 with the player of the year in each code picking up a cheque to the tune of €5,000.

The GAA and GPA have today announced that their respective annual player awards schemes are set to merge.

This was the first time in my long association with the Irish Examiner I had predicted a draw in a game, and, for a while, as the game was coming to a conclusion, it was beginning to look like I might be proved right.

IT’S been 50 years since Dublin won a Leinster SHC title, a 7-5 to 4-8 win over Wexford, and the time has come to end the wait according to Dublin’s goalkeeper Jimmy Gray in that 1961 win.

THE Aviva Stadium’s opening last May was the primary reason for the GAA’s €10m drop in revenue in 2010.

AS a player, Cork legend Gerald McCarthy dreamed of winning an All-Ireland medal.

LEINSTER SHC (First Round): Louth v Longford (tomorrow, Portlaoise, 3.50pm)

WEAKER hurling counties have reacted strongly to comments from GAA Director General Páraic Duffy questioning the value of the National Hurling League to those competing in the Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher Cups.

POLICY or planning, a President’s work is never done. A fortnight ago Christy Cooney was imploring people to take care on the Croke Park pitch as they swarmed across the turf to celebrate Kilkenny’s All-Ireland hurling final victory.