The Waterford and Clare systems have effectively retired the position of full-forward, writes Donal O’Grady

Kerry’s David Moran has been named the 2015 Munster GAA footballer of the year.

The Munster hurling championship should be run on a round-robin, home-and-away basis to provide more games for players and spectators, says Ger Loughnane.

As part of his preparation for religious life, Fr Pat Barry had to serve as a deacon in a parish: six months’ worth of pastoral experience ahead of his ordination, back in 1976. He was assigned to a parish on Canvey Island in Essex.

Thousands of hurling fans queued for hours in Thurles last evening for the removal of Tipperary hurling great Jimmy Doyle, who passed away suddenly on Monday, aged 76.

Consistency, or lack of it, must be the biggest concern for supporters of the Cork senior hurling team at present.

Sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry. Really.

Henry was lucky, so very, very lucky.

The sporting community in Cork and beyond turned out in force yesterday to honour the memory of renowned hurling coach Archdeacon Michael O’Brien, whose funeral took place in his native Innishannon following Mass in St Mary’s Church yesterday.

His fame came from football but his name transcends the game. Dermot Earley was John Scally’s boyhood hero.

They say there’s more than one way to skin a Cat. Tipperary manager Eamon O’Shea said that Kilkenny were ‘ferocious’ and ‘formidable’ and that the Tipp players ‘tried to match this but couldn’t on the day’.

Few rivalries have as rich a history as Cork and Tipperary hurlers, points out Donal O'Grady.

Such is their unstinting grá for the old grey bowl, I half expected the Cork supporters to arrive with trowels and silver tins yesterday afternoon, ready and waiting at the final whistle to covet a piece of the Ballintemple venue.

Speaking at the History of Hurling one-day seminar held at The Schoolhouse venue at Muckross House in Killarney last Saturday, one of the most stylish forwards of his era reflected on a 19-year senior inter-county career.

They haven’t come up with a term for it yet. Maybe they’ve developed an aversion for such things in Kilkenny since the ‘Drive for Five’ didn’t work out as they wanted.

Last Sunday week, Tommy Carr informed RTÉ Radio One listeners that Cork’s footballers were arrogant.

Seamus Horgan (24, 5’11’’, 11-7 Tournafulla): “Like a lot of goalkeepers Seamus was also a very good outfield player but ended up in goals because he could be a bit wild out there!

Watching Cork-Down encounters over these last two years and the dreamer in you would be inclined to think Gulliver and Lilliput.

Cork dual great Ray Cummins has given a brutally honest assessment of the county’s senior hurling and football teams.

Former GAA president Dr Mick Loftus was amongst the attendance yesterday at the funeral Mass of Down-born Joe McGrath who achieved notable successes as a hurling, football and camogie coach over the past 40 years while living in Cork.

Pat Hartigan: Played minor for Limerick when he was just 15 years of age. Hartigan was part of the Limerick side of 1973 — the last from the county to claim the All-Ireland title.

He returned ‘home’ expecting to attend a retirement party for his brother Liam, but former Cork dual star supreme Brian Murphy was the centre of attention at the Nemo Rangers complex on Saturday night where he was honoured for his remarkable sporting achievements.

IT’S hardly surprising, given their preeminence in hurling, that Kilkenny supplied the first father-and-son combination in the GAA All Stars scheme.

HIS name will not be familiar to a younger generation of GAA followers outside of Kildare, but Pat Dunny has a list of achievements to his credit which merit special recognition.

THE man’s sport is swimming but, as he was speaking, we were all thinking hurling.

THE HSE has been forced to bail out a major hospital charity with taxpayers’ money.

LAST weekend, and not for the first time this year, you’d have to say the football outshone the hurling, big-time – a bad Leinster final in Croke Park.

WHAT a difference 70 minutes makes.

ONE decade, five All-Ireland titles, eight finals, six September appearances on the bounce, three National League victories and six-time Munster champions.

THERE have been three outstanding hurling games this year.

WHATEVER doubts there may have been about the outcome up to the time Henry Shefflin converted that penalty, Kilkenny didn’t need to win yesterday’s All-Ireland final to have greatness conferred on them.

Damien Irwin laments the passing of an era when bloodied, bandaged hurlers staggered across the landscape – and a player became synonymous with a gap in his teeth or a shock of red curls

JOHN F Kennedy produced a line for the ages in his inauguration speech as US President when he told his audience to “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Between hurling and football,I suppose you could say we were very fit, but you had a dilemma to try and pace yourself or play as hard and as long as you could

IN all the years I’ve been doing this column, the one major disappointment for me is that I’ve never been in a position to analyse a big win for Clare.

FORMER Cork dual star Ray Cummins believes the Kilkenny hurlers will continue their dominance of the All-Ireland championship for several more years.

IT SURVIVED famine, wars and recessions but there was anger on the streets of Cork yesterday after a boardroom decision to close the country’s oldest brewery.

They’re tied on 30 All-Ireland titles each, but there’s more at stake at Croke Park tomorrow for Cork and Kilkenny than statistics. Stars of the 70’s, Cork’s Brian Murphy and Kilkenny’s Phil ‘Fan’ Larkin discuss battles past and tomorrow’s semi-final with Diarmuid O’Flynn.

THE hurlers and footballers chosen on the very first All-Star teams 35 years ago will be honoured at a function in Croke Park today, hosted by the GAA and Vodafone.

A LIFETIME of involvement in hurling has given nine-time All-Ireland medallist Noel Skehan a unique insight into the game.