Kilkenny turned around their National League final reverse at the hands of Galway coming out two-point winners in their championship opener today.

Was last weekend’s hurling a tale of two flicks?

We’re nearly there now, mercifully, writes Kieran Shannon.

Brendan Maher may have handed over the Tipperary captaincy to Pádraic Maher last year but if the 2016 All-Ireland winning skipper gives the pre-match speech on Sunday it won’t come as any surprise.

Limerick are well familiar with this fork in the road.

Former Kilkenny star Richie Power doesn’t expect Davy Fitzgerald’s Wexford to pose a serious threat to the Cats in next Sunday’s Allianz Hurling League quarter-final at Nowlan Park.

Jackie Cahill looks at five ways in which Michael Ryan’s Tipperary are emulating Brian Cody’s Cats.

AIB All-Ireland Club IHC final

For eight junior and intermediate clubs it’s a landmark weekend in GAA headquarters. And for two Mayo entrepreneurs.

Suddenly the Carrickshock supporters took to singing.

One glance at this weekend’s fixture programme should be enough for the penny to drop. You certainly don’t need a third-level degree to take from it that the dominance of certain counties on the big stage is perfectly mirrored at club level.

The 11-time All-Ireland winning manager returns for a 19th campaign at the helm in Kilkenny. A few question remain...

They’re hurting now but Brian Cody has insisted Kilkenny will rise again with the help of several “top players” who the general public know little about.

The Wednesday or Thursday after the 2014 All-Ireland final replay an old stalwart from near Urlingford decided to go for a spin on the far side of the border. Eternal vigilance and all of that, dontcha know.

The Tipperary match-day cavalcade lost a vehicle this year. For years, Conor O’Mahony’s Skoda Superb pulled up the rear. A bad traveller, he was given special dispensation to drive, with Shane McGrath riding along for company.

As Lar Corbett puts it, he’ll “probably never get any high” like readying himself for an All-Ireland final.

John Doyle, not long before he passed away in December 2010, made an intriguing remark about 21st-century hurling.

Stomachs are lined, wallets are bulging, and it’s going to rain for the week. It can only mean one thing — the Galway Races have arrived.

It’s not just a jersey they hand you, but one with a number, and often that number counts.

Kilkenny hurling legend DJ Carey has taken up a key role with the county’s underage footballers.

Richie Power can’t understand why Cork have not pushed on from three years ago when they were seconds away from an All-Ireland title.

TJ Reid says the Kilkenny attack will need as many as three new faces to take the mantle left by this season’s absentees.

Kilkenny’s former All-Ireland winning captain Eddie O’Connor has openly questioned Tipperary’s “bottle” ahead of Sunday’s Allianz Hurling League Division 1A crunch between the counties at Nowlan Park.

John Fogarty sees Kilkenny and Tipperary renewing rivalries at the head of a competitive Division 1A

All winter we’ve waited for the man. The January competitions provided a temporary fix, but that was solely for the hopelessly addicted. This weekend it’s the real stuff, the pure drop, that hits the streets at last. The man has come around.

For Kilkenny newcomer Joe Lyng, his AC joint injury couldn’t have come at a worse time. The NHL throws in this weekend and the Rower-Inistioge clubman will be looking on from the sidelines.

Truth be told, while Walter Walsh was the darling of Kilkenny’s 2012 All-Ireland success last year’s triumph meant so much more to him.

Brian Cody paid a glowing tribute to recently-retired Richie Power yesterday, describing the forward as a player who “had everything”.

One of the most interesting things about sport is how notions get stuck inside people’s heads and refuse to shift, regardless of the evidence available. A great example of this is the notion that the GAA is now ‘No Country For Old Men’.