The day I met a giant

A few months back a Prime Time debate about secret manager payments in the GAA was chaired by the unusually quiet Miriam O'Callaghan. On the night in question I was following the #primetime Twitter stream (Twitter is all the rage these days!) and decided I wanted to add something to the party. I wanted to say something profound but I was at a loss... In the end I retweeted @HMFerry's offering which read, 'It's the amateur status that makes the GAA unique, and the best sporting organisation in the world. No to payments.' I couldn't agree more. 

The blades have been lowered and the talk of payments to managers has dried up. I've just spent eight euro on a bottle of Nivea After Sun and Aodh O'Fearraigh's aka @HMFerry's stance on the GAA still stands.

The GAA is indeed 'amateur' and 'unique' but what do these words really mean? I'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent here. Stay with me.

Corbett 'happy enough to be just playing like'

We all know that Thurles is the home of hurling. That’s a given. You would assume then that Tipperary would be the team to beat when it came to the ancient game. That’s not a given. Down through the years Tipperary were a team to fear, a team to be respected, a team to measure your sides performance off. But the Premier County have slipped down the pecking order in recent times and it will be seven years this September since a beaming Declan Carr climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand. 

Tipperary have not gone away. Far from it. But the recent emergence of teams in Munster such as Waterford and Limerick and the continued dominance of Kilkenny and Cork have left the Tipperary hurling faithful wondering if the good times will ever return.