Considine may move back into management

FORMER Clare hurling selector Tony Considine is being lined up to take over as manager of Limerick club Garryspillane.

A spokesman for the club said they had opened talks with Considine and were confident he would accept their invitation.

“We won the county U21 title last season, have a crop of fine young players and he is the man to get the best from them and help us to win our first ever county senior title.”

Meanwhile, former Limerick boss Dave Keane has taken over as coach to Eire Og, Nenagh. Keane brought Limerick to a hat-trick of All-Ireland under 21 titles.

Meanwhile, GPA Chief Executive, Dessie Farrell, has revealed there may be room for discussion on the subject of image rights for the GAA’s soon to be released Playstation computer game.

GAA President, Sean Kelly, has elaborate plans to launch a new high profile computer game onto the market by July of this year.

However, the big sticking point comes in the shape of players’ image rights as the GPA hold the rights to their 1200 members, which include hugely marketable figures like Kilkenny’s DJ Carey and Armagh’s Kieran McGeeney.

As such, the GAA would not be able to use the images or even the names of the players in their computer game.

The GPA’s hand has been strengthened further following a recent landmark German court ruling in favour of former World Cup soccer finalist Oliver Kahn.

The Bayern Munich goalkeeper took EA Sports, the makers of the game FIFA 2002, to court for using his image on the front cover of the package and was successful, arguing he had not assigned his image rights to any organisation.

However, Mr Kelly hopes there may still be room for discussion on the matter and that certain players may agree to pass over their image rights to the GAA for the purposes of the game.

Kelly pointed out the game would not be a cash cow for the association but a ‘promotional tool’ that ‘would not make us millions’.

“It’s something they need to discuss and come back to us about,” said Mr Farrell.

“Players have assigned their image rights to us and the Oliver Kahn case does set a precedent.

“It’s obviously something the GAA have to discuss in greater detail and the lines of communication between the GPA and the GAA are good.”

Ulster GAA fans could soon be watching major games under floodlights, according to provincial secretary, Danny Murphy.

Murphy attended Wednesday night’s floodlit Dr McKenna Cup tie at Carrickmore and declared the experiment a success.

“It certainly was a good test run for the floodlit game, and now the question we have to start asking is: what would be the competitions, what circumstances, and what developments we need to look at in the area of floodlighting,” said Murphy.

Four newcomers to senior inter-county hurling are included on the Offaly team to meet Laois in the Walsh Cup quarter final in Birr on Sunday. The debutantes are Coolderry goalkeeper Shane O’Connor and Kinnitty clubmates Fergal Kealey, Paddy Whelan and Richie McRedmond.

Wicklow’s bid for four Kehoe Cup senior hurling trophies in a row have been boosted by the return of star attacker Don Hyland.

Hyland has spent some time in Australia.

Limerick football manager Liam Kearns has called on just two of his dual players, Steven Lucey and Mark O’Riordan, both in defence, for Sunday’s McGrath Cup final against Clare. LIMERICK: S. O’Donnell; D. Burke; J. McCarthy; M. O’Riordan; P. Browne; S. Lucey; D. Reidy; J. Stokes; T. Carroll; S. Kelly; M. Gabin; C. Mullane; M. Horan; J. Murphy; E. Keating.

OFFALY (SH v Laois): S. O’Connor; F. Kealey, G.Oakley, D. Franks; N. Claffey, P. Whelan, M. O’Hara; S. Weir, B. Teehan; C. Gath, N. Coughlan, R. Hanniffy; K. Kelly, R. McRedmond, D. Murray.