It may only be February but the Model County already look to be in peak condition, reckons Anthony Daly

He spent the 1990s plotting against Brian Whelahan and the early 2000s conspiring alongside him, all of which has convinced Mike McNamara that the Birr man will turn things around in Offaly.

Paul Galvin’s former Kerry team-mate Sean O’Sullivan has questioned why the 35-year-old has surprisingly chosen to revive his inter-county career.

ust like her brother Anthony, Rosie Foley has always been a leader, captaining Munster and playing for her country. She even swam the English Channel last week ahead of the women’s rugby World Cup.

The great thing about the hurling just having finished is that it’ll soon start all over again — sort of.

THE Dublin hurlers’ first time in 50 years to make it into August and the Limerick footballers’ first time to make an All-Ireland quarter-final.

Kerry’s Mike McCarthy survived a decade at the highest level in the GAA without once sharing his thoughts with the public. Until now. He sat down with Tony Leen for his first – and last – interview.

ALL-IRELAND winner Mike McCarthy is to return to the Kerry squad.

THERE’S a YouTube video doing the rounds featuring a Limerick-supporting Hitler in his bunker, castigating his minions on receiving word of a challenge match defeat by Carlow.

BEAR with me while I approach the point laterally by way of an interview I had in the seventies with a charismatic cult leader called Kevin Jacobson, leader of a group called Mary’s Followers of The Cross.

Kerry will defend their All-Ireland football title without their last, and most experienced, line of defence. And for keeper Diarmuid Murphy, there’s no going back. He spoke to Tony Leen.

CLARE GAA chairman Michael O’Neill has vowed to put measures in place to ensure that there is no repeat of the bitter dispute that led to Mike McNamara’s resignation as the county’s senior hurling team manager.

MIKE McNAMARA remains in situ as Clare senior hurling manager following last night’s lengthy meeting with his players – but sources within the Banner County expect McNamara to walk away in the next day or two.

GAA President Christy Cooney is hoping the crisis involving the Clare hurlers can be dealt with without any involvement from Croke Park.

ALL-IRELAND winning Kerry football captain Darran O’Sullivan is to switch codes to rugby for the winter. O’Sullivan has agreed in principle to play for Tralee Rugby Club in the Munster Junior League.

KERRY defender Tom O’Sullivan believes a long winter spent twiddling thumbs could be enough to persuade some of the county’s older players to give another year to the senior footballers.

THERE’S an old saying in sport that games and titles are won far from the field of play and Jack O’Connor would probably find something in that.

JACK O’CONNOR has declared his intention to remain at the Kerry helm for another season but the future intentions of three of the county’s key players remain open to question.

RUN a finger back along Kerry’s pained path to yesterday’s peak and it is one of endless bumps and bruises. Until late July, that is, when Jack O’Connor took his troops to Tullamore for a meeting with Antrim.

ON THE road home from scouting Meath’s All-Ireland quarter-final victory over Mayo, Kerry’s management team of Jack O’Connor, Eamon Fitzmaurice and Ger O’Keeffe began swapping war stories from their respective scrapes with the Royal County.

Former Clare star Jamesie O’Connor promises he won’t refrain from making the hard calls in his new role as a hurling analyst, writes Diarmuid O’Flynn

“Maybe we have to learn to approach the league right, maybe there’s a learning process there but we should have taken six points. We had a whole series of minor hiccups along the way with injuries – we lost two corner-backs before the game started in Dublin and we did something similar in Ennis the week after (loss to Galway) which would test any team, to lose four corner-backs.

ANOTHER loss for Clare in the 2009 Allianz Hurling League and, though their relegation to Division 2 was already decided, this one still hurt, and a decent-sized home crowd trundled away from sunny Cusack Park with spirits low.

IF ever there was an opportunity for the GAA to say ‘thank you’ to one of its finest group of supporters, it’s now.

HOW do you analyse Wexford hurlers? How do you preview any game in which Wexford are involved?

WINNING managers swear by it. Teams shocked in the league by lowly neighbours use it as an excuse. And recently retired players shudder at the thought of it.

WITH the National Leagues firmly established in their new slot early in the same calendar year, every League game has become crucial.

WHEN you first individually meet with the three members of the original Clare management triumvirate, the men who orchestrated the breakthrough in 95, the most striking thing about them IS their individuality.