For 47 years, the GAA’s unblinking eye

LIKE ALL journeys in the GAA the voyage started in familiar places even if the passage of time makes it seem like another world.

When Kilkenny greeted the press at training before the 1971 All-Ireland final there were just five reporters to consume their thoughts.

The mood was relaxed, the access was easy, paranoia and suspicion were absent, or at least not an intrusive presence. One of the five was Jim O’Sullivan, in his first summer as GAA correspondent of this newspaper.