BACHELOR POWER

Evidence that teams are getting younger can be gleaned from the fact that for the recent UCD-Shannon AIB league division one, none of the Shannon players were married: we can't vouch for UCD. It appears the fact that the Clare hurlers (1995) won an All-Ireland title with a side comprising of bachelors, while there was only one married man in this year's starting line-ups for the All-Ireland final, Tipperary's Declan Ryan. Incidentally UCD centre Shane Moore - he lead Ireland to their FIRA under-19 World Cup success in 1998 - created a little bit of history when he led out the students for the aforementioned match by becoming the first player to lead captain UCD for three successive seasons.