GAA working to seal All Star sponsor

THE GAA All Star scheme will continue as is despite the formal ending yesterday of the 11-year Vodafone sponsorship deal. Although a replacement sponsorship has yet to be sealed, the monthly awards, plus the annual tour, will also continue, but in the meantime GAA president Nickey Brennan didn't rule out combining the awards scheme with that of the Gaelic Players Association (GPA).

The monthly winners for April - Tipperary hurler Shane McGrath, and Derry footballer Fergal Doherty - were presented with their awards in Dublin yesterday, at which Brennan guaranteed the full continuation of the scheme, with or without new sponsorship.

"We're talking to various people at the moment in relation to the All Stars," said Brennan, "and that's not sorted yet. But irrespective of who is involved, or nobody involved, the scheme will continue as is. And that includes the monthly awards, and All Star tour.

"We've been so caught up in work related to the new multi-sponsorship deals. That's been mammoth. We just didn't have time to focus on the All Star deal, but that's on the agenda now."

Vodafone, who are now one of new three title football championship sponsors, took over the All Stars in 1997, at short notice, following the termination of the contract with Tyrone-based engineering firm Powerscreen. The GPA have their own players awards, sponsored by Opel, and so far both parties have been happy to keep both schemes separate.

"We'll be meeting with them (the GPA) soon," added Brennan. "We said we'd meet them after congress. That hasn't happened yet, but will happen soon. I've already stated publicly that the awards may be one of the items on the agenda up for discussion."

For yesterday's winners, there were more pressing matters. McGrath and Doherty secured their awards on the basis of helping their counties to National league titles, but there was a hesitancy to look back on that, with the championship looming.

"It was nice to get a bit of silverware after a few years," said Doherty, Derry's colossal midfielder, "but the league is over now. The players got together, and we'd a night out. But then it was put to bed. We were back training on the Tuesday night and said that was it. At the end of the day no one remembers a team that won the league. We got this week off because of club matches, but we'll be back together next Tuesday, trying to take care of Donegal."

Unlike Kerry, who they beat in the league final, they didn't take in a training holiday ("We're from Derry. We don't bother with training holidays.") and instead all the focus is on the game with Donegal on June 1st. "They've been quiet enough, but we're expecting a full-scale battle. We've been tipped before, and slated before, and it didn't seem to make a pile of difference to us. It's just a matter of getting the heads down, and doing the business."

Tipperary's hurling league win over Galway was followed by a week-long break in Vilamoura in Portugal, and McGrath found that beneficial in getting their focus on the championship date with Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on June 8th.

"The work we get done in Portugal in a week is the equivalent of two or three weeks here. You're training two or three times a day. You're bringing a group that's close already even closer.

"And it was ideal the way it worked out because we got away after the league final at a time when some people might have been getting a bit carried away on the back of that. We got away from all of that and things had died down by the time that we got back and we're back now and refocused on the Cork game."