Only by delivering CPA objectives will the GAA fulfil its mission

In the circumstances, I suppose, the descent into hyperbole can be excused.

The establishment of the new Club Players Association (CPA) was not, as its impressively energetic founding secretary Declan Brennan commented at its launch, ‘more important’ than the day the GAA was founded. That’s a plainly ludicrous claim.

Nevertheless, it is a significant event in the evolution of a sporting body that appears to have lost the confidence — and trust — of the vast majority of the player population it is charged with serving. That it should have come to this is a calamity of sorts — and one entirely of the GAA’s own making.