Sometimes a draw is the best result...

THE pity is there was only one professional negotiator in the Cork suburb of Blackrock on Saturday when Kieran Mulvey got down to the nitty gritty of bringing the Cork GAA players strike to a successful resolution.

Whereas the chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission is a round-table old hand, there was no-one of like nous in the players’ group or among the County Board executives. Somebody who might realise that in an intractable situation where absolute victory is unattainable, it’s better to cut the best possible deal and get out with everyone feeling they’ve given and taken something from the negotiations.

Mulvey must have sensed progress would be in centimetres when neither side sat down around the same table with him in Cork over the weekend.