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The Kerry Championship really is a strange animal. The semi finalists this year are Dr Crokes, West Kerry, Mid Kerry and East Kerry. Dr Crokes are going to be the Kerry representatives in this year's Munster Club as the rest of the teams are divisional sides. Marc O Shea plays for West Kerry, did he play for an Gealtacht earlier in the championship? You would think that your county championship should just be for club sides.

anyone know the irish spelling for Lauren McCrory.

am heading away the weekend of the 23-25 Aug somewhere in Ireland. Would love to travel to Kerry but for a weekend its a bit too far to travel for a few days. Would more than likely end up on the West coast, Mayo / galway country but has anyone any recommendations for the east coast or even the midlands?

Before yous all head to the pub tonite - All Ireland Gold Dublin v Galway 1983 - Get the bxing gloves out!!!

Lads, I'm holidaying in san fran and just wondering where should I check out for the next few days.'m here now until Friday so I have 3 nights to do something. Any suggestions?

Penalty points to be equal in Ireland and UK

A deal has been reached between the Irish and British government that will see the penalty points system in Ireland and the UK legalized in both countries.

The new deal means that a driver banned from driving in either country will also be banned from the other country, but the new legislation will not come into force until next year.

There have been calls for the law to be introduced for some time now as there are an increasing number of Northern drivers being found guilty of motoring offences down south, but the penalty points do not affect them in Northern Ireland or the remainder of the UK.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern lead a delegation to meet his British counterparts last week where the idea was discussed and all agreed to harmonise the penalty points system.

About time too!!!

Anyone know how to get your hands on tickets for a Premier League game. Was thinking an Arsenal or Man U game?

Good article in todays IN from Paddy Heaney. Apparently the IN received a bit of guff from the listeners of the Steven Nolan show about failing to dedicate front and back covers of the newspaper the day after the north beat Sweden in the soccer. The editor of the IN Noel Doran was asked to come on the radio to explain the papers scant coverage of the event, despite the papaer giving a full match report and mentioning the result on both front and back covers, the unionist powers at the BBC deemed the coverage unsatisfactory. The BBC then sent TV cameras around to the IN offices to get Noel Doran to explain his papers position.

I didn't know this had happened but again gives further proof to the attitudes at the BBC for the largest spectator sport in the island. Paddy Heaney makes a very valid point that why doesn't the BBC make representations to the New Letter who refuse to carry any Gaelic Games coverage and to the Telegraph who give scant regard to GAA. The IN does a very good job in covering a large spectrum of sports, but it's sports coverage is unasshamedly focused on GAA. It's a pity that the other papers, and in particular the News Letter, wouldn't at least attempt to acknowledge Gaelic Sports.

From the Indo!!

THE GAA has always had a love-hate relationship with players. For decades many officials would barely tolerate them and their role was to be seen but never heard.

However, thanks largely to the presence of the GPA and the strike action taken by the Cork hurlers a few years ago, there has been a sea change in the attitude of leading GAA officials towards inter-county players.

Central Council actually drew up minimum standards re travelling expenses, facilities at training and matches and supplies of playing gear.

Some County Boards were reluctant to apply these claiming they could not afford to do so, but they eventually towed the line after much arm-twisting.

However, there is one area where players at all levels can be treated abysmally by the GAA - long-term injuries.

Every year I get numerous E-Mails about serious levels of hardship that injured players have to undergo after incurring a major injury. The GAA has provided a very good insurance scheme, but its implementation can be tortuous.

Brian McGuigan from Ardboe, County Tyrone, is generally accepted to be the best centre half forward in modern Gaelic football. At a time when few counties even bother with a specialist No 11 because of the evolution of the short-passing game, he stands out as an outstanding successor to great traditional centre-forwards like Sean Purcell of Galway, Tony Hanahoe of Dublin and Trevor Giles of Meath.

For the key role he played in the initial Tyrone All-Ireland success in 2003, McGuigan won an All Star and was robbed of a another such award in 2005 when the selectors - in a fit of madness to which they are often prone - actually selected Peter Canavan at No 11 instead, even though McGuigan was THE key figure in that Tyrone success.

McGuigan then suffered a very serious injury early in 2006, when he broke both the tibia and fibia in his leg in a club game between Ardboe and Dromore. Complications set in which caused some bone marrow to seep into his lungs and his life was in danger for a while.

Thankfully the expert medical attention he received in the Belfast Royal hospital set him on the road to recovery, but it was a very long and torturous road. He spent 15 weeks with his damaged leg in a cage and hobbling around on crutches and had to undergo massive amounts of physiotherapy and other remedial treatments. Even now, eight months later he is just able to run in straight lines.

But what will astonish many people outside Tyrone, and possibly within the county as well, is that McGuigan went for over six months without getting a penny compensation from anybody connected with the GAA. This was despite the fact that he was out of work for the best part of half a year from his employment in the building industry.

No income

Indeed, he was forced to return to work much sooner than his recuperation from the serious injuries justified simply because the man had no income and needed to earn some money.

Ordinary GAA followers all over Ireland and abroad who admired the great skills of McGuigan during Tyrone's two All-Ireland winning campaigns in '03 and '05 will surely be saying to themselves: "How could this sort of thing happen to a great player in his own county?"

Many counties try to bridge the financial gap between what insurance pays and the player's lost wages. But in McGuigan's case, he has not received any insurance money yet, and, apart from medical expenses, he has received nothing from the Tyrone County Board to date.

By any standards this is outrageous considering all this player has done for Tyrone football in recent years. It seems extraordinary that the county board would not make a payment to the player months ago in the knowledge that they could, if they wished, deduct it from the insurance when it came through.

But it is not just the county board who provide facilities for county players in Tyrone. One of the most successful GAA fund-raising operations in Ireland is Club Tyrone. This a body set up to guarantee at least £250,000 per year will be available to spend on Tyrone GAA activity, particularly on the welfare of county teams.

Members of Club Tyrone agree to pay £500 per year by standing order. Their mission statement is on their excellent web site and among other things it deals with "supporting our county teams - for example making sure our managers and players get what they need to perform well for Tyrone."

An excellent concept no doubt, but Club Tyrone does not appear to have taken much interest in the McGuigan case.

My request for information to Club Tyrone brought no result, but it seems strange that apart from a small early donation, as far as we know, they did not lead the way in organising help for Brian McGuigan from whatever source was appropriate in accordance with their stated aim of "making sure players get what they need to perform well for Tyrone."

GAA compensation is always unduly delayed, but rarely to the inordinate degree as in this case. What the injured player needs most of all is financial assistance immediately so that his quality of life does not deteriorate by having to live in near poverty until either he returns to work or all the insurance red tape is sorted out.

One wonders, too, why no benefit events were organised for McGuigan during his long recovery period when he was out of work. Neither his own Ardboe club, the Tyrone County Board nor Club Tyrone seems to have taken any initiative in this regard which is in marked contrast to what would happen in most other counties when a well-loved GAA star was in need of a helping hand because of serious injury.

Brian McGuigan is a very quiet, unassuming person. He did not seek any publicity about his poor treatment and such is his love for football and Tyrone that what happened will not have any impact on his future devotion to both.

In the past GAA units have often taken advantage of quiet, dedicated players like Brian while flashier players with big mouths often got anything they wanted. For the 2003 All-Ireland final McGuigan had to get painkilling injections which worked for that day but left him severely restricted in his movements for several weeks afterwards, but he never complained.

Now he sets off for work on building sites at 6.45am as he tries to build up his depleted financial resources and engage in the torturous fitness recovery programme that he hopes will bring him back onto the Tyrone team.

What the injured player needs most of all is financial assistance immediately so that his quality of life does not deteriorate

And if, and when, he is starring for Tyrone in big Ulster or All-Ireland championship games next summer how many will think back to the way he was left to fend for himself in his hours of need during 2006?

I understand another Tyrone player, Conor Gormley from Carrickmore, broke a leg in a club match last summer and is having the same problems as Brian McGuigan.

The appointment of Pauric Duffy as Player Welfare Officer in Croke Park is timely - because we can rest assured there are many more Brian McGuigans in the GAA.