IT was only yesterday morning that the sharp pain of defeat hit Aidan O’Mahony.

HE was fresh from steering Tipperary to a rare All-Ireland football triumph but in the midst of the euphoric celebrations in Croke Park yesterday, David Power was already thinking of the future.

THE satisfaction was clearly evident in the Kerry camp at the final whistle in Fitzgerald Stadium yesterday.

AFTER a game which pretty much defined the concept of backs to the wall, Giovanni Trapattoni was in tell-it-like-it-is mood in his post-match press conference in the Luzhniki Stadium.

THE pain of All-Ireland final defeat is a powerful motivating tool.

MONAGHAN skipper Sharon Courtney has targeted revenge against Cork in the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies SFC final at Croke Park on September 25.

UNFORTUNATELY, the decision which hugely influenced this Munster football semi-final in Fraher Field was not made by the Limerick or Waterford management team or a player from either side but by the referee Syl Doyle.

CORK hurling captain Kieran ‘Fraggy’ Murphy says “over the last few years fellas were used to a free-flowing games between Cork and Waterford, but on Sunday it was a lot tighter, a lot more tactical around the middle of the field. Players were finding it hard to get a bit of space — that was true of both teams.”

THE signals have been easy for Charlie Harrison to detect. The remarkable uprising experienced by the Sligo footballers has captured the imagination this summer.

THE difference between winning and losing sides is all too obvious but the disparity between the victorious Meath and Louth players after yesterday’s pair of Leinster semi-finals was truly revealing.

IT was another Connacht championship afternoon fraught with tension for Joe Kernan.

WE SUSPECT whatever faint chances Louth had of being granted a replay vanished in those minutes when some rippling specimens of Wee County manhood waddled in to leave their mark.

IN THE build up to this second round qualifying game, the rumour mill was working overtime with regard to the Dublin squad’s wellbeing following their comprehensive loss to Meath.

THE impact sub tag has been attached to Darran O’Sullivan since his breakthrough onto the Kerry scene in 2005 but the Glenbeigh-Glencar man has made no secret of his dislike of being restricted to bench-warming duties.

DESPITE all the bad vibes emanating from Kerry’s championship campaign this summer, Jack O’Connor has consistently espoused the belief his charges were not far off tapping into their vintage form of recent seasons.

Final fever laid Antrim low. It was business as usual for Tyrone in yesterday’s Ulster final but for Antrim it was a huge occasion and their players were not used to the attention they had received since their wins over Donegal and Cavan.

DAVID NGOG struck twice as Roy Hodgson began his reign as Liverpool manager with a comfortable victory from a potentially tricky Europa League test last night.

MOMENTS after the final-whistle blew at Croke Park yesterday, signalling the end to the Rebels’ 20-year football title famine, Micheál O Muircheartaigh stood out of his familiar seat in gantry for the last time on All-Ireland final day.

FOR the third time in this year’s championship, Cork manager Conor Counihan had seen his side let a lead slip, allowing their opponents to seize a draw at the end of 70 minutes of football.

KERRY GAA chiefs are adopting a ‘wait and see’ policy before commenting on television coverage of incidents involving defender Tomás O Sé in Sunday’s Munster SFC final as the An Ghaeltacht defender looks set to be the second high-profile Kingdom player to be slapped with a retrospective suspension this summer by the CCCC.