The GAA’s disciplinary process has become a bit of a lottery which brings the Association itself into disrepute

Ideally, the GAA would have a full-time disciplinary officer who on Sunday nights during league and championship would review all reports and video evidence of the weekend games as assisted by match review panels of former referees and players.

TAINTED SPECTACLES: Both the best hurling (Limerick v Clare in the Munster Final) and football (the All-Ireland quarter final between Galway and Armagh) games of the season thus far have been tainted by ill-discipline

On the interminable flight home from Australia, I watched Jason Ferguson’s documentary Never Give In about his father Alex. Ferguson’s rationale for his post-match rant after his Aberdeen side had defeated Rangers in the 1983 Cup was uniquely Scottish in nature – viscerally bitter yet poignant.

Ferguson was of little doubt that his 1999 Champions’ League victory over Bayern Munich was his greatest night in football. In the tumult of the final whistle, Ferguson retreated to the tunnel but was ambushed by two non-playing members of his squad – Paul Scholes and Roy Keane. Both had been suspended for cards picked up in previous games.