You only have to clock the massive spend on county teams to realise any drop in gate receipts will hit the balance sheet hard. No manager will want to be responsible for it.

Patrick Maher's departure from the inter-county scene leaves one man standing alone from those late noughties. Noelie McGrath continues to shine bright.

How Pat Ryan and Brian Lohan can take control of their own All-Ireland final destiny

What's on the wishlist of Brian Lohan and Pat Ryan this weekend? 

The games can swing wildly and there are often twists and turns before matters are decided.

Antrim players are giving their heart and soul to represent their clubs on the county stage and fully deserve, in my view, a few days where they get to prepare like professionals.

Is this the point when the loss of Caroline Currid could impact Limerick?

The way our year is structured now works okay for the clubs consistently challenging in the latter stages of competitions, but it’s not much good to the clubs that endure early exits, with their championship involvement more or less over as soon as it commenced.

Seamie Callanan traded heavily in goals and brilliant flashes of skill, but he stocked a lot more in his locker.

We should never underestimate the fuel that the previous year's pain can provide to push groups to higher levels of performance