Paul Rouse: The loss of the GOAL Challenge Match a great loss to the GAA

For those struggling to remember the pre-Covid world, the GOAL Challenge match had evolved into a fundraising match played by the victorious All-Ireland champions in the week after an All-Ireland final. Sometimes they simply played A versus B matches; on other occasions they played the reigning county champions.

Shane O'Donnell is mobbed by young fans at Clare's GOAL Challenge match in Sixmilebridge after the 2013 All-Ireland final. Picture: Eamon Ward

The absence of a charity match played to raise money for GOAL is something to be lamented in the week after an All-Ireland final.

Whether the competing players feel that lament is a moot point: it cannot have been entirely easy to pull on a pair of togs and run around in apparent competition after several days of excess.