Player deal further evidence of new dawn

THE ceasefire may have been announced last year but tangible evidence that the stand-off between the GAA and GPA is finally over arrived in Croke Park yesterday with news of the two bodies’ first joint venture.

The announcement of the GPA’s player development programme was “nothing mind-boggling”, as GAA president Christy Cooney admitted, but it was nonetheless a historic day.

GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell, sitting alongside Cooney at the time, chimed in by saying that “this sends out a strong signal that our players and administrators are no longer at each other’s throats”.