Laois chairman Tom Clear has lashed out at the decision to discontinue the Joe McDonagh Cup Champion 15 this year.

Chasing silverware, yes. Chasing records, not so much, but it’s impossible to get away from the latter, such are the impressive tallies he’s been posting of late.

Two of tomorrow’s provincial finalists lost the central figures in their hurling histories within six years of each other. Mick Mackey of Limerick passed away in 1982, while Wexford’s Nicky Rackard died in 1976.

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.

Substitute Kieran Prior struck a dramatic stoppage-time winner to give Sligo their second Nicky Rackard Cup title in a thrilling encounter against Armagh at Croke Park.

Liam Griffin has led the tributes to Wexford hurling great Ned Wheeler after his passing yesterday at the age of 87.

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.

The art of goalscoring — from Cork’s old machine-gun fire to the heavy artillery of Tipperary — and the free spirits like Lar Corbett are in danger of being drowned in a sea of points. What to do? Change the sliotar? Award four points for the goal? Enda McEvoy reports

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.

Zak Moradi may have been the first Iranian Kurd to play in Croke Park but the Leitrim hurler is convinced that he won’t be the last.

Hurling will join Gaelic football in moving from an U21 All-Ireland championship to an U20 competition in the near future.

Football v football, hurling v hurling, football v hurling – 2018 may end up being known as the year of the squeeze. 

Ahead of yesterday’s deadline for amendments to the proposed All-Ireland hurling championship restructure, the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) recommended the introduction of two preliminary quarter-finals.

Of the many great crimes that befell the last century, Ultravox’s Vienna being kept off the top of the UK single charts by Joe Dolce’s Shaddaup You Face in 1981 stands most unashamedly among them.

Simon McCrory is the captain of the Antrim hurling team, favourites to claim a 16th Ulster title in a row tomorrow against Armagh. McCrory works for the county board as a Hurling Development Officer in Belfast.

To have an airport called after you demands a wider international celebrity most Irish sportspeople simply do not have, writes Paul Rouse.

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

Annual expenditure on Mayo’s various inter-county teams will never again drop below €1m, treasurer Kevin O’Toole has warned.

“People trained like alcoholics in those days. They didn’t like people to know they were training.”

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!”

When Cathal Mullane moved out of Limerick he had an idea he’d play on with his club back home, Kileedy. A couple of hours’ drive home for games? No problem.

Ahead of this weekend’s post-primary All-Ireland finals, addiction counsellor and Rosommon hurling manager Justin Campbell has called for betting on schools matches to be outlawed.

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

Hurlers in the Christy Ring, Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher Cups have called on the GAA for the competitions to be afforded more recognition, according to a GPA survey.

Setting his new TV crime series in Wexford gave Billy Roche a different dynamic to work with than the usual Dublin shows, writes Richard Fitzpatrick

The sun shone but there had been a significant breeze all day. 

A few years ago, I had the privilege of proposing on these pages how I believed the All-Ireland Football Championships should be restructured to make it more appealing, more relevant and, above all, more rewarding for the most important component — the players and management.

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.

Thurles will host two Cork-Waterford clashes in the space of five weeks after it was yesterday confirmed Semple Stadium will stage Sunday week’s Division 1 final.

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.

Former All-Ireland-winning manager Liam Griffin has blasted the key recommendations of the Hurling 2020 report, believing an automatic substitution for a second yellow card amounts to a "halfway house".

KILKENNY SHC FINAL:

I promise to enforce a statute of limitations on Web Summit references. It was only last week, though, so surely you’re not jaded with the coverage just yet. You’re not? Good.

Today marks the 75th anniversary of one the most memorable All-Ireland hurling finals in history.