The day inches really mattered

HILL 16 and its controversial new perimeter might have been all the talk last week but the Davin Stand end of Croke Park has been the epicentre of the summer’s drama and so it proved again yesterday.

It was at the old Canal end that Joe Sheridan made his leap into the history books and it was there, too, that Donncha O’Connor did his best Cool Hand Luke impression to land a hat-trick of late frees against Dublin.

Rob Kelly came close to topping them both. Talk of fingernail margins is usually the preserve of the swimming community but there was no more fitting way to describe such a margin between victory and defeat.