White smoke from the Vatican and Croker - but Cork is black as ever

IT’S hard to know which conclave was more important - the one in Rome which only had to decide a new Pope, or the one in Dublin to decide whether or not to open the most sacred temple in Ireland to the unconverted.

It would have been appropriate had the decision to amend Rule 42 been announced by black smoke because for some in the venerable GAA, the opening of Croke Park to foreign games was a bad day for the association.

For the Cork County GAA Board, the last bastion of the faith that is the national game, our heritage, our culture, and everything else, it was a bitter pill to swallow. Twice.