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.

Gaelic Players Association (GPA) chief executive Dermot Earley has expressed annoyance at how the GAA have performed a u-turn by supporting the addition of more games to the senior All-Ireland championships.

FOR generations this society, the more polite tiers of it anyway, avoided conflict by dodging red-button issues. 

For a man who is set to be involved in the Longford hurling management set-up next year, John Hunt has little time for the county’s attitude to hurling. Ultimately, it may end up costing him but he can’t hold his tongue.

Players chief Dessie Farrell says inter-county players have sent him a clear message that the current football Championship structure is "broken".

David Kronn is gradually donating his invaluable, acquired photographs to the IMMA, says Richard Fitzpatrick.

The family of Wexford hurling legend Nicky Rackard have forked out €17,500 to reclaim his 1955 All-Ireland medal.

Tommy O’Connell was chatting to a couple of friends in the Croke Park Hotel an hour or two before last year’s All-Ireland final when Jimmy Magee passed by. One of the friends buttonholed Magee and, pointing to O’Connell, asked him why this man had a place in hurling history.

Denis “Rackard” Coady - Kilkenny team assistant (kitman)

London claimed their first ever Christy Ring Cup title at Croke Park this afternoon, while Armagh and Tyrone both earned their second Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher Cup titles respectively.

Monaghan hurlers’ new manager hopes to put their national league final debacle behind them in time for the Nicky Rackard Cup.

I really enjoyed reading Michael Moynihan’s tribute to Nicky Rackard in your newspaper recently, (Sport, March 19).

Rackard was the man who revived hurling in Wexford.

HE spent almost 30 years making a name for himself in the game’s boardrooms — the last five sitting at the head of the FAI’s table — but the temptation to label him as a ‘football man’ doesn’t sit comfortably on Bernard O’Byrne’s shoulders.

TIME nor tide, ‘tis said well and often, waits for no man; neither does the treadmill, and every year, as another sporting season begins to crank up through the gears, another sporting stalwart steps off, decides enough is enough.

KEVIN RYAN has sampled the big day atmosphere in Croke Park before with his native Waterford but today’s experience as he manages Carlow in the Christy Ring Cup final (4pm) will be far removed from that.

More and more angry fans are complaining about television coverage of big games. This could also be down to more fans staying away from the games and preferring to watch them in the – cost-free – comfort of their own homes or their local pub. Anyway, this week again, there’s praise and criticism in equal measure again for RTÉ and TV3.

CORK hurling legend Willie John Daly last night described the late Wexford great Billy Rackard, who died aged 79 on Monday, as a “colossus”.

IN FRANK O’Connor’s great short story “My First Confession”, the little girl complaining about her brother says “some people have all the luck”. Well, Monaghan footballers could empathise with her.

IN A FORTNIGHT when we had fantastic games of hurling and football all the publicity for the GAA should have been positive, as our players served up many matches of great skill and sportsmanship.

A LOBBY group aiming to curb excess alcohol consumption has accused the Government of being in “collaboration” with the drinks industry.

The Meath minors will be able to call on star forward Alan Nestor for Sunday week's All-Ireland MFC semi-final against Roscommon after he had a red card overturned.

Irish people are spending more of their income on alcohol than any other country in Europe, a shocking study revealed today.

Caroline O’Doherty

GREAT COMPTON, certainly not a horse to be trusted, should find the opposition to his liking in the Dawn Fresh Orange Juice Maiden at Killarney this afternoon.

MICHAEL KINANE arrived at Tipperary last night well aware silly rumours were circulating regarding his future at Ballydoyle.

PATRIZIO can prove too strong for Just In Debt in the Co-Op Hardware and Supermarket Novice Hurdle at Tipperary this evening.

TOMMY STACK’S Swiss Roll gets the nap to land a very competitive Irish Stallion Farms Noblesse Stakes, a Listed event for fillies, at Naas tonight.