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Three Kilkenny girls will bid for glory this Sunday, as London’s Tara Camogie Club take on Myshall in the All-Ireland Junior club semi-final in Ruislip.

The Claregalway Hotel SFC Dream Team nominees have been announced and votes can be cast by going to the Claregalway Hotel website and clicking on the Dream Team Link. The intermediate nominees have also been announced and are also available on the website.

Thomastown and Bennettsbridge have been the two form teams of the Minor league and championship.

I managed to take in four of the five matches at McHale Park last weekend. The weather was particularly nice for football and I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the action. I am partial to giving the GAA at administrative level the odd short-arm tackle over the way they do business when it comes to entrance fees to matches. No such complaints last weekend and I have to applaud the fact that the County Board decided an entrance fee of €10 to be an appropriate rate on both days. This represents excellent value for money, even in these economically depressed times. However when you consider that €20 gave you access to five games I was disappointed that the crowds did not flood into the venue over the weekend.

October is traditionally the month for county finals around the country. Generally counties that have been knocked out at quarter final stages will have their championships run off early in the month, while counties like our own who have progressed that bit further in the championship tend to have their big day in late October.

Sunday: Nowlan Park 3.30.  O’Loughlin Gaels v Ballyhale Shamrocks 

I arrived early at GAA HQ last Sunday as I like to soak up the pre match atmosphere of All-Ireland final day. Normally there is a great buzz in and around Croke Park from about 10am and last Sunday was no different. I was privileged to have been asked to do co-commentary for the minor game and match analysis on the big one, so I had to be in the grounds by 12.45. As it happened, I also received an invitation from the GPA to attend a pre-match reception in Jurys Croke Park at 12 noon. It was a gig for former inter-county footballers and was an excellent idea as the opportunities to meet and chat with former players from other counties are few and far between. In fact during our playing years we would barely look at each other never mind hang about for a chat after matches. So unless you participate in some of the GAA golf classics, you rarely get a chance to say hello. And I don’t play golf! My friend Pat Holmes had arrived at the reception before I got there and, unfortunately for me, had devoured most of the sandwiches. Notwithstanding that minor complaint, the 30 minutes I spent at the pre match event was pleasant. I chatted with Greg Blaney, the former Down centre-forward, and John Lynch, corner back with Tyrone in the eighties. I asked both for their pre match predictions. Neither of them could see anything other than a Kerry victory. And that was the general consensus in and around Croke Park prior to the match, with the exception of the Dublin folk of course.

It is difficult to believe any county could suffer the heartbreak of losing five All-Ireland senior finals in any code in the space of 14 years. Yet that is the painfully cold statistic that faces Galway Camogie after another shattering defeat in a senior decider last Sunday in Croke Park.

Tipperary senior hurling manager Declan Ryan won his first All-Ireland medal playing midfield with Thomastown Vocational School (Grennan College).

I was hugely disappointed this week after our Crossmolina boys lost to Castlebar Mitchels in the quarter finals last Sunday. We had prepared exceptionally well, particularly over the last three weeks since the conclusion of the group stages with two good challenge matches and quality training in between. The feeling was that if we could beat Castlebar, we had a right chance of winning the county title. The mood was good coming into the game despite injury to five of our first team squad. There was a quiet air of confidence that we would beat the more fancied Mitchels. There was a big doubt about our county player Peadar Gardiner’s participation right up to the last few minutes, but he had pushed himself right to the limit to be fit to play.