THE AIB sponsored All Ireland club football and hurling championships will provide additional incentives this year with the announcement yesterday of a new individual awards scheme.
The top hurler and footballer in each province, to be selected by a panel of adjudicators, will be honoured with special "Player of the Championship" awards. The players will be selected at the conclusion of the provincial championships in early December.
The Leinster club football championship gets under way on October 20th with Carlow's Eire Og ready to try yet again for the big prize with largely the same squad that reached last year's AllIreland decider. They have a first round match against Westmeath champions Coralstown Kinnegad.
Kerry's Billie O'Shea and the Hassett brothers, Mike and Liam, have inspired defending All Ireland champions Laune Rangers to yet another county decider. They face West Kerry in the final.
The Ulster football championship gets into full swing this weekend. The pick of the crop could be the meeting of Cavan's newly crowned champions Gowna and Burren of Down. Gowna include three of Martin McHugh's team of rising stars - Dermot McCabe, Bernard Morris and Ciaran Brady.
. From an original list of eight Oireachtas senior hurling matches arranged for the weekend only five now stand. The latest postponement is the Laois Clare tie. The Meath Kilkenny fixture, originally down for Saturday, has been moved provisionally to Sunday with an 11.30 start in Athboy.
