CIARAN McFaul, the Derry forward, is in the paper this week, and he reveals a little about what is going on in the engine room of the Oak Leafers. Ever since he came to our attention as a free running attacking player on the Glen underage teams, I have thought of him as a gifted forward. Yet he says that with the county he’s tended  to be into more of distribution game. McFaul told me this week that Rory Gallagher is keen for the Glen man to get back to what he is best at and that is running at players. For anyone who’s had the pleasure to watch Derry hand-pass across the 45 line at any point, a suggestion of an attacking strategy will be thrilling. According to McFaul, there’s plenty to be excited about.

RONAN SCOTT

THE Antrim County Board are looking for a new person to head up their GaelFast project to bolster Gaelic games in the Saffron county. Paul Donnelly was the man heading up the project but he  departed a few weeks ago to go work for Ulster University. This was a blow for Antrim. The Gaels from Antrim who I spoke to, those who played alongside and against Paul  and even those who knew him through his work at club level, all said that he was the man to make things happen. Such votes of confidence suggest that the Saffrons have lost their perfect man. Finding his replacement, according to officials in Antrim, is going to be very difficult. The news this week is that they are going to have an interim man in place until such times as they are allowed to appoint a new person. But with no action on the field, it feels like that means they have time to get the right person.
RONAN SCOTT

WATERFORD ladies announced that they had made history this week as they will become the first female GAA team to own their own pitch outright when a new facility is developed at Dungarven. Technically, they are correct but there is no doubting that Armagh and Orchard chairperson Sinead Reel have led the way with their lease-ground project McKeever Park in Killean. The semantics don’t mean much here though, what we have now is two ladies teams essentially with their own independent grounds in production. Who could have guessed that would happen 10 years ago? Ladies sport is really on the rise and other counties will take heart from the example shown by Armagh and Waterford.

NIALL MCCOY

FIRST things first, I don’t actually like soccer –  as a sport, as a business, as whatever. But one thing I don’t mind about the Premier League is that their managers have a bit of charisma –  Klopp is decent  craic (except when he’s losing), Mourinho is darkly comedic, and uh is Big Sam still around? It makes me wonder why GAA managers are so stony-faced. Mickey Harte probably set the trend when he came on board as Tyrone manager –  he didn’t show much emotion on the sideline, but at least he wasn’t a total closed-book and released a couple of actually quite interesting autobiographies. By contrast, Dessie Farrell seems to think he has to act the same as Jim Gavin, and it just makes me wonder what’s the harm in showing a bit of emotion once in a while? It hasn’t done Klopp any harm anyway. My personal view is that it’s all rather forced – yez manage  a bunch of footballers, yez aren’t monks so stop acting like it.

NIALL GARTLAND

IN 2020 Dublin once again showed why they are miles ahead of the pack as they won a sixth All-Ireland in-a-row in third gear, with their undeniable benefits giving them a real advantage over the rest. The talent is there, of course, and the hard work, but the odds are stacked in their favour and other teams must find a way to pounce on limited openings. One, for me, was the fact that they would have to be back out just weeks after their December All-Ireland final win over Mayo with the National Leagues pencilled in for January. No matter how good their squad is, that was going to be difficult. Now though, it looks like the leagues will start late in March meaning more time for them to recover from last year’s exploits. That takes away one golden opening for the likes of Mayo, Kerry and Tyrone – and there are unlikely to be too many more.

NIALL MCCOY

EVERY year I hear the same – the All-Stars haven’t mattered since Brian McGuigan didn’t win one in 2005, or when they started naming half-backs in the half-forward line, and so on and so forth. I think that’s a load of hoopla, for those very same people will still watch the All-Stars ceremony or read about it in the paper, or on your online outlet of choice (hopefully not Hogan Stand). It’s still a great privilege to win an All-Star, and the Cavan fans will be up in arms, no doubt, if none of their players are named on the final 15 (which is very unlikely to happen but you know what I mean). So here’s to the All-Stars.

NIALL GARTLAND