'That's dead in the water, it's clearly a case of a journalist in a bad way for a story. It's not going to get out of the starting blocks and will not be happening.' GAA President Nickey Brennan throws cold water on suggestions that UEFA approved Croke Park could host a Champions League final.
'On the basis that the referee had dealt with it and as a result of the DRA case involving Ryan McMenamin (versus Armagh in 2005), the clear ruling from the DRA was that once the ref had dealt with the matter, that’s the end of it.' Brennan again on the Central Competitions Control Committee's decision to take no further action against Meath footballer Graham Geraghty following Sunday's match against Dublin.
'Appeals for Markham and Lynch may not happen but they are putting a lot of resources into Barry Nugent's case. And what Andrew Quinn was pulled up for wouldn't relate to a 'third-man tackle' in a match.' A Clare 'source' tells The Star that it will contest the suspensions of two of their hurlers involved in the pre-match fracas with Cork last month.
'The question I'd be asking is "what were they expecting?" Were they expecting that we were both going to up it about five levels? At the end of the day it was Down against Cavan. We're not All-Ireland contenders.' Cavan footballer, and Handballer of the Year, Paul Brady, somewhat disillusioned by the lofty expectations of The Sunday Game panel, one of whom noted: 'There were players out there who didn't even look like relations of inter-county footballers.'
'We will be pursuing it immediately with whoever that individual might be. I think we had reasonably strong coverage as we have wide party support for this scheme and concept. I know both ourselves and the GAA will be very actively taking this to the new Minister in the first week or two. We’d be eager to set up a meeting to move this on because I think there is an agreement in principal. The Government has pledged €5 million of additional funding for the game – it’s a matter of trying to establish the right mechanism now.' Gaelic Players’ Association chief executive Dessie Farrell on his intention to meet with the new Sports Minister as soon as possible.
'We were told that the pitch would be closed for two weeks after the drawn game and we had to abide by that. The Gardaí don't want such a game at 6pm because of crowd control issues.' Leinster provincial chairman Liam O'Neill on why there was little or no choice in scheduling a 4.15pm start for the Dublin v Meath SFC replay on Sunday, 17 June. The game will now be shown live on RTÉ One and RTÉ.ie (Island of Ireland only).
'Maybe the backdoor has taken some of the gloss off it, but the Munster Championship still sits on its own, and both teams will be gearing up to win it. In the context of the modern game, however, both teams will have an eye on the All-Ireland Championship as well.' Kerry manager Pat O’Shea denies suggestions that the Munster SFC title has lost some of its allure.
