Today in Croke Park, Central Council will be presented with proposals from a sub-committee charged with devising a plan to introduce a calendar GAA season from 2016, writes John Fogarty.

The long standing tradition of All-Ireland finals in September could become a thing of the past, admits GAA president Liam O’Neill.

Nobody can deny the appeal of finishing the club season in the calendar year. It’s neat, it’s tidy, reports John Fogarty. 

Decades of fixture-making have taught Paul Kinsella many things but one abiding lesson: the longer a club is in a championship the better it is for the club’s prosperity.

The GAA is being asked to provide funds to international clubs planning on visiting Ireland for The Gathering.

Kilkenny chairman Paul Kinsella has questioned the scheduling of the All-Ireland senior hurling champions’ first home league game on a bank holiday Monday.

Up to 15,000 spectators packed into Nowlan Park last night to welcome home the victorious Kilkenny team.

15,000 spectators packed into Nowlan Park tonight to welcome home the victorious Kilkenny team who secured their 34th All-Ireland SHC title thanks to an 11-point win over Galway at Croke Park on Sunday.

Liam O’Neill hopes the GAA’s decision to significantly cut ticket prices for the All-Ireland final replay double-header on September 28 will change people’s perceptions of them as “a grab all organisation”.

Kilkenny chairman Paul Kinsella expects the GAA to recognise the efforts of both sets of players in ensuring a money-spinning All-Ireland SHC final replay on September 30.

The spectre of the six-day turnaround in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship is almost at an end, if the GAA's National Fixture Planning Committee follow through on their current plans.

GAA president Liam O’Neill has strongly defended his commitment to Gaelic football and admitted his shock at the reaction to his misinterpreted Congress comments.

Former Young Footballer of the Year Tommy Walsh has urged the GAA to scrap any considerations of paying inter-county managers and instead focus on assisting players.

TWO of the counties protesting against the new hurling league structure have given tentative support to the anticipated compromise proposed by the GAA’s Management Committee.

BARRY O’GORMAN kicked the winning point four minutes into injury time as Taghmon-Camross secured a 0-16 to 2-9 victory over St. Mary’s (Rosslare) in their Wexford SFC tie at Wexford Park on Saturday.

THE campaign to introduce a home and away system in the provincial championships may be gaining support but one manager has called for neutral venues to be considered for all championship fixtures, including the All-Ireland qualifiers.

GAA director of games administration and player welfare, Feargal McGill, says he cringes when he hears “simplistic criticisms” of the association’s championship fixtures scheduling.

KILKENNY football secretary Tommy O’Reilly expressed fear for the existence of organised football in the county after six of seven adult league games were conceded last weekend.

He may be entering his 13th season, which some might regard as being unlucky, but Kilkenny County Board had absolutely no misgivings when re-appointing Brian Cody as senior hurling manager last night.

HE may be entering his 13th season, which some might regard as being unlucky, but Kilkenny County Board had absolutely no misgivings when re-appointing Brian Cody as senior hurling manager last night.

KILKENNY GAA chiefs will lodge a formal complaint with Croke Park in the wake of the chaotic scenes after their All-Ireland SHC final win over Tipperary.

AN Bord Snip Nua recommends “substantial reductions in the public service obligation (PSO) payments made to CIÉ, reflecting the need for major efficiencies across its cost base”.

GAA president Nickey Brennan admitted yesterday that the weekend postponements in the National Hurling League, and resultant fixtures headache, is a matter of concern to Association chiefs.

THERE is empirical evidence of the dangerous effects of over-training and over-use of players, the outgoing chairman of the GAA’s Burnout Task Force, Dr Pat O’Neill told Saturday’s Special Congress in Croke Park.

CORK selector Martin Bowen came out strongly yesterday in support of Rebel midfielder Tom Kenny, who has come under scrutiny in the wake of Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final defeat to Kilkenny.

WHILE the crackdown in Tibet is to be condemned in the strongest possible terms, the campaign against the Beijing Olympics, predictably, has become a political football used for generally reactionary purposes.

ONE of the more interesting motions debated at the week-end GAA Congress came at the very end of the Saturday session and, through an oversight, wasn’t even included in the agenda. Dealing with the topical issue with the age eligibility of young players for the various championship grades, it came from Tipperary. And, according to board chairman John Costigan it was “about the survival” of 25 clubs in the county.

WHY do we have so many ramps on our roads — even on main roads?

I WISH to thank Bus Átha Cliath for putting new low-floor, wheelchair-accessible buses on the 27B route from Liberty Hall to Harristown via Beaumont Hospital, Castletimon and Coolock Lane in Dublin.

I FULLY support the Government’s clampdown on L-drivers on second provisional licences driving unaccompanied by a fully qualified driver.

I WISH to congratulate Dublin Bus for the recent introduction of the new Volvo Environ 4.0 buses out of Ringsend and Clontarf garages.

I AM appalled at the Aer Lingus decision to end its Shannon-Heathrow service. Unfortunately, that is the price we pay for selling off our national assets.

PAUL KINSELLA (Letters, July 24) bemoans the “hidden agenda” to flog off the postal service to “billionaire speculators”.

THE news that the European Parliament has rubber-stamped EU Commission plans to open up the EU market for delivering light letters and postcards weighing below 50 grams to full competition from 2011 is yet another attack on the service and other semi-state companies and government agencies that provide a social service.

WHERE art thou summer gone?

SO, Fianna Fáil TD for Donegal North-East and former Government minister Jim McDaid wants a three-year pay freeze for workers, supposedly to ‘protect our jobs’.

THE growth of the AIB club hurling and football championships meant that they had now become ‘one of the great events,’ not just of the GAA year, but of the Irish sporting calendar, according to Association president Nickey Brennan.

FINE Gael leader Enda Kenny’s proposal for mandatory drug testing of schoolchildren is reactionary and anti-youth.

A TRIP to London shows up our outdated transport system.

THE relatives of the Stardust fire victims are right to protest until they are granted a new inquiry. There are still many questions that the original tribunal didn’t answer.

THE 100 extra new buses that the Government has belatedly agreed to give Dublin Bus come with a sting in the tail — they will not be released until new routes have been opened up to private operators. Given the cumbersome tendering process, this could take months or even years.

I AM delighted that the UEFA Cup final will be held in the newly-refurbished Lansdowne Road stadium in 2010 and that the Under-21 European Championships may also be staged in Ireland with the final in Lansdowne Road.

FIREWORKS should be legalised. That way they could be sold in shops under strict supervision and substandard crackers would be eliminated.