GAELIC GAMES/News round-up: Dublin's football team is to be at the centre of an advertising and promotional campaign for the new Dublin Daily News newspaper to be launched next month. This will be the most high-profile advertising campaign built around a GAA team since Kerry's controversial deal with Bendix washing machines in 1985.
Such endorsement and advertising arrangements have been fully approved in recent years. According to the newspaper they have acquired the team's "image rights" in return for an undisclosed - but reported to be "substantial" - sum of money.
Dublin manager Tommy Lyons stressed that the arrangement would not affect the access to players by sports journalists from other publications. "The Dublin Daily News will have commercial access to seven or eight players for television and billboard advertising and any promotional campaigns they want to organise. The paper will choose the players as soon as the championship panel is finalised next month."
Lyons denied that the players' support had been the subject of a bidding war with the Evening Herald, which has a close sponsorship relationship with the Dublin county board. "No. We were made no offer by the Evening Herald."
As a columnist with the Herald, Lyons said that "it is a little awkward on a personal basis but the team and players come first.
"I believe that Dublin people need a Dublin paper and I like the idea of the Dublin team supporting a Dublin paper. It gives the county that bit of provincialism that is part and parcel of the GAA. I believe the GAA is about tribalism and I worked hard last year to create a sense of a Dublin team for Dublin people."
The Gaelic Players' Association, which holds the image rights of all its members, gave the plan its approval. "We have no problem with it," according to GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell. "We would encourage it and would like to see other counties getting involved in similar arrangements."
Meanwhile it has emerged that All-Ireland winning captain Kieran McGeeney will miss two or three of Armagh's remaining NFL matches. McGeeney injured himself in last Sunday's win over Cork, tearing a muscle in his leg and will not be available for the fixtures against Donegal this Sunday, Roscommon and possibly Tyrone, the League holders.
Tyrone have their own injury problems with former All Star Stephen O'Neill out of this weekend's clash with Dublin. He picked up an elbow injury in the last match against Galway and is replaced by Seamus Mulgrew. Ryan McMenamin, who also had to leave the field, with a knee injury, has recovered. A vacancy at left wing back will be filled by either Declan McCrossan or Ciaran Gourley.
For the Division One B top-of-the-table clash Mayo bring Richard Haran into the attack at left wing forward, in the continuing absence of James Gill, who is currently serving a red-card suspension which he picked up in a colleges game and which kept him out of the game against Down.
Sean Grimes has now moved into defence at right wing back with Brendan Burke dropping to the bench. Crossmolina players were not considered ahead of next week's All-Ireland club semi-final against Dunshaughlin.
Kerry have made no changes to the side that hammered Roscommon last weekend.
KERRY (SF v Galway): D Murphy; T O'Sullivan, B O'Shea, M McCarthy; T Ó Sé, S Moynihan, J Sheehan; D Ó Sé, D Daly; S O'Sullivan, E Brosnan, B Sheehan; D Quill, D Ó Cinnéide, C Cooper. Subs: D O'Keeffe, M Ó Sé, M Lyons, E Fitzmaurice, S Scanlon, D O'Sullivan, P Galvin, P Kennedy, R O'Connor.
DONEGAL: T Blake; S Carr, R Sweeney, N McGinley; N McCready, M Gurn, D Diver; J Gildea, J Ruane; C Toye, M Hegarty, J Haran; A Sweeney, J McGuinness, A Gallagher.
TYRONE: P McConnell; R McMenamin, C Holmes, C Gormley; P Jordan, G Devlin, A N Other; R Mellon, K Hughes; B Dooher, B McGuigan, S Mulgrew; F McGuigan, O Mulligan, S Cavanagh.
MAYO (SF v Laois): P Burke; K Mortimer, P Kelly, R Connelly; S Grimes, B Prendergast, F Costello; D Heaney, D Tiernan; S Carolan, D Sweeney, R Harran; C Mortimer, M Horan, A Moran.
MONAGHAN: G Murphy; D McDermott, D McKenna, P McKenna; J Conlon, D Duffy, D McArdle; E Lennon, A Rooney; D Freeman, D Smith, T Freeman; K Tavey, A N Other, J Mone.
