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If he can't grab a high ball out of the clouds, he'll not get on Brians team.

Once he can tackle like this, he's in!

Griffin's back on board an things are going well in the camp. This is Clares All Ireland final and they are totally focused on winning it. Waterford are looking to peak for the Q/F and i don't think they'll worry too much if they go out of Munster early. Eoin Kelly is out and there's doubts about McGrath, Flynn, Browne.

It will be an upset alrite but I can just see the Banner seekin it.

Clare's Munster championship record is appalling.
They have won only one match in Munster since 1999 (beating Tipp in 2003).
I'd say they're already plotting their course through the qualifiers.

He looks like your typical Brian Cody type of hurler! 

Looking on the brightside, at least Dublin hurlers aren't dropping out because of football these days! 
I would have thought McCrabbe had excellent potential after his performances for the U21s.
This years looks like a great time for Dublin to get to a Leinster final, but I don't think they can afford too many more departures.

--

Dublin hurling duo Alan McCrabbe and Keith Dunne have decided to opt off Tommy Naughton's Championship panel.

The pair were part of the Metropolitans' U-21 side that won a Leinster Championship last year, before falling to Galway in the All-Ireland decider.

However, it is not all bad news for Naughton, as last weekend's club Championship games saw Kevin O'Reilly and Derek O'Reilly return to action after their respective cruciate ligament injuries.

Captain Stephen Hiney lined out for Ballyboden St Enda's and Ronan Fallon returned to hurling action after his involvement with St Vincent's in their run to All-Ireland Club football success.

Naughton remained philosophical on the loss of McCrabbe and Dunne.

'That's the way things go,' he told The Star.

'We will just have to get on with our work without them. It was their decision - that's the way the world is going.'

The Dubs will face Westmeath in the Leinster SHC on 25 May.

I wonder what sort of shape Flynn would be in?
He occasionally carries a bit of "conditioning", but would be a good impact sub to have for Waterford to have.

In like Flynn? Waterford marksman considering return

WATERFORD hurling boss Justin McCarthy should find out this week whether Paul Flynn will make himself available for the coming championship campaign.

The Ballygunner man, who has been plagued by injury in recent seasons, said yesterday: "I am still thinking about it but I'll make a call over the next few days. The body will make the decision.

"Everyone thinks they can go on forever but they can't. The body will decide."

Flynn made his comments at the launch of the FBD All-Ireland GAA Golf Challenge, in which over 120 GAA clubs from Ireland and the US will compete.

l Pictured above, Waterford's Dave Bennett tries out a different form of putting at Carton House, Maynooth, Co Kildare, watched by (from left) Steven McDonnell, Paul Flynn,Greg Kennedy and Eddie Brennan.

[NEVER]

One small point chaps,a relevant one nonetheless,we have NEVER beaten Cork in senior championship hurling in Pairc ui Cuiomh,far better Tipp teams than this current outfit have failed by the Lee.

Welcome back HOH.
I'd fancy Tipp to break that record in the next couple of years (assuming ye are drawn against them).
I think the current Cork side has grown old together and will need a lot of rebuilding soon.

I wonder are Waterford planning to peak later in the year this time?
Last year they won the league and Munster, but come August they were pipped by Limerick who took the scenic route.
Statistically teams who have to play a quarter final rarely win out in Munster.

While Tipp will be pleased to have won 3 tough knockout matches in the League, you have to remember that a new young manager was always going to try and get momentum going early in the year and try and instill a winning habit.

For a lot of people this will be a major headache.
Many matchgoers don't know Dublin well enough to park in a different area and get public transport to the match. I think it will dissuade people from travelling. Especially people who might find the walk a lot of trouble.
There is limited public transport, but a few thousand extra people using these options will put a big strain on them.

My feeling is that DCC and the other Godfathers of the city seem to regard matches in Croke Park as an awful endurance to bear.
Yet when the prospect of the Irish soccer or rugby teams playing abroad was raised, there was consternation at the huge loss of money to the Dublin economy this would cause.

Well done to Westmeath.
I wonder would Offaly swap Johnny for Joe as manager?

It is unfortunate that the year Westmeath win Div 2, there is no promotion to Division 1.
For championship, I think Dublin have improved a bit since 2006, so a repeat win looks a tricky task this year.

its run its course

I'm surprised at that?
I thought there was plenty of good debate once you stripped out the occasional Cork-Kilkenny-Waterford wind up debates.

i think the point rossfan is making is that realistically in theory only about 6 counties can win sam and in relaistic terms its smaller than that.

That's probably true.
But then why not banish 20+ other counties to compete in the Tommy Murphy so?
At least they have a more realistic shot a national trophy once the Kerrys or Tyrones are taken out of their way.
It will make little material difference to the overall outcome of the championship.
Why was it right to put the cut off at Division 4 and not Division 3 for example?

I think the weak counties were an easy target to pick on because they weren't going to lodge a serious or sustained objection.
Unfortunately these sort of actions by the GAA play into the hands of the GPA who strive towards elitism and a tiered rewarding system.

So they'll do like Offaly have done this year in football and last year in hurling - bitch and moan until they get the rules changed instead of actually looking within their own counties to find out how they ended up in the position in the first place.

Despite the popular myth this was never the case.
You'd do well to find any dispatches from the Offaly county board complaining about getting dumped into the Tommy Murphy, never mind any moves to rectify it. It was Wicklow who brought in the motion after all.

On the Division 2 of the hurling last year. The rule was changed because the CCC realised their proposed new league was not going to free up any weekends because a 9 team division meant 9 weeks of league matches.

The notion that Offaly have the power to "bitch and moan" to get rules changed is laughable.

The notion behind the football qualifiers was to give non-traditional counties a guarantee of more than more championship match per year.
I don't think it was ever sold as being a safety net for the strong counties and it shouldn't have begun to evolve towards that.

The ROI is a much more content and prosperous place than when he first came to power

Would you care to outline what it is FF and Bertie Ahern have done to bring that about ?

A few obvious ones:
Founding of the IDA - Sean Lemass
Free education - Donagh O'Malley
Setting up the RTCs - Paddy Hillary
Starting up the IFSC - Charles Haughey
Devaluing the Irish pound in 1993 - Bertie Ahern