Paul Rouse takes a look at the evolution of Gaelic football.

On Saturday, Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers will put up for sale the diary which Pat Davin, the outstanding Tipperary athlete, kept of a tour of the USA undertaken by GAA hurlers and athletes in 1888.

Literature, Gaelic games, and Irish classes were all activities in the early 1900s of the young nationalists who would later rally around the Rebellion, writes John Gibney.

The new owner of the famous Hayes Hotel in Thurles has said he wants to turn the landmark property into a "cultural hub" which will recognise its role in GAA history but also become a thriving business.

The iconic Tipperary hotel where the GAA was founded, and where tens of thousands of sport fans have congregated every year since, is to be sold at auction with a guide price of just €500,000.

The world’s first “urban poc fada” takes place in Carrick -on-Suir this afternoon as part of the Clancy Brothers Festival.

Tony Browne appears to have ended any lingering doubts surrounding his intercounty future after appearing for Waterford as a second half substitute in a challenge against Tipperary last night.

Already new GAA president Liam O’Neill is in exalted company. Not only does he stride in the footsteps of luminaries such as Maurice Davin, Con Murphy and Seán Kelly. But men like Matt Barrett, Gerald Ratner and David Shepherd can also now call him one of their own.

HIS term as hurling’s missionary — also known as national coordinator — expires this weekend, but Paudie Butler remains true to the creed. “I’m going to commit the rest of my life to supporting coaches and clubs who want to develop hurling. Because I know that we’re winning.”

AS you walk through the rows of monuments in Glasnevin cemetery the story of Ireland’s political, cultural and sporting past is everywhere.

THE strength of the GAA at grassroots level is what will ‘drive’ it forward into the future and enable it to become even stronger, said Association President Christy Cooney last evening.

The book focuses on people’s experiences of the association.

THE GAA will conclude their 125 celebrations on Sunday in Thurles, on the anniversary of the day the Association was founded in Hayes Hotel in 1884.

SUPPORTERS at the GAA Football All-Ireland semi-final on Sunday will see Ireland’s elite athletes battle it out alongside GAA stars in an inter-provincial Super Sprint Relay as part of the GAA’s 125th Anniversary celebrations.

RUGBY and soccer have already been welcomed into the renovated Croke Park and athletics may join them in the years to come, with stadium chiefs actively considering the possibility of hosting a Grand Prix event.

NICKEY BRENNAN yesterday paid tribute to the GAA’s first president Maurice Davin for his role in ‘bestowing the gift of the GAA on the Irish nation’.

THE BIGGEST weekend of the 2006 GAA calendar looms large on the horizon, but the questions over relegation, promotion and semi-final spots continue to lie in the shade.

A number of sections of the Croke Park stadium were re-named today at a special ceremony, presided over by out-going GAA President Sean Kelly, the President elect Nickey Brennan and the Association's Director General Liam Mulvihill.

Croke Park's Canal End, originally built in 1949, is set to be named after the GAA's first ever president, Maurice Davin.