By Friday night, the tempestuous build-up to Clare's All-Ireland semi-final match against Offaly had reached melting point. All week, conspiracy theories bounced about the country, so much so that you half expected the RTE news to lead with the startling revelation that Donie Nealon had been the man on the grassy knoll, with the rest of the Munster Council watching on from the book depository.
Sideline View promised to add to the intrigue, with Marty Morrissey, following up on a fine report from Clare, posted outside the Limerick Inn to beam in news of Colin Lynch's eleventh-hour hearing. But it all fell flat.
The news that the Lynches were suffering a family crisis acted as a reality check, and it wasn't hard to see that Ger Loughnane was being genuine when he wondered aloud if the GAA was an organisation you would encourage your youngster to join. The whole proceedings left a bitter taste.
On to yesterday, and so overwhelming was the concentration on Clare that it was something of a surprise to see a bunch of hurlers in Offaly colours take the field. Michael Lyster informed us that Clare had "travelled in their numbers" (which would have been true even if just two banner fans showed up), but Offaly also brought substantial vocal support.
Although Ger Loughnane was forced to view proceedings from the stands, he wasn't exactly banished to the cheap seats. As luck would have it, his seat number lay exactly beside the Clare bench.
At half-time, Offaly's Paudie Mulhare was asked if his team might win and a look of surprise flashed across his countenance, as though this was a novel and not altogether bad idea.
Finally, he relented with a grin. "Ahh, we've a chance," he shrugged, which according to Michael Lyster was as close to an affirmative response as an Offaly man can muster. And what a chance. Just a late free between them and an All-Ireland final. "A tremendous game by two outstanding teams," said Loughnane immediately afterwards, graciously adding that Clare had stolen the draw. All to play for.
The lads at Sky TV, clearly delirious about the return of Premiership action, merrily debated whether the Charity Shield bash between Arsenal and Manchester United should be classified as a pre-season friendly or the beginning of another interminable series of games.
It all looked terribly Premiership. United fans gazed with concern at the disturbing sight of Beckham's fading highlights. Alex Ferguson still chewed the bejaysus out of a pack of Hubba Bubba. All eyes were initially on United's new boy, Jaap Stam, but the return of Roy Keane commanded most of the attention.
Roy, surprisingly, did not spend his summer cultivating a new perm or a set of dreadlocks, but instead opted for the more manageable shaven head look, which did much to soften his image. His approach to the match was equally no-nonsense, as he endeavoured to nail Arsenal with seven tackles in the first 20 minutes, five of which were successful.
"He'll be lucky to finish this game," gasped Trevor Francis at half-time, before paying homage to Marc Overmars' first half goal. Before the match, Trevor had made much of the fact that of the 22 players on view, only eight were foreign. The statistic, he suggested, pointed to the resurgence of English football.
Pity that Overmars, Wreh and Anelka had to spoil his argument by each knocking a goal home.
At the Kerrygold Horse Show, Lapino did much to boost the case for equine smarts by backing away from the wall in the Puissance event on Saturday. As the height escalated, you could see the horses growing distinctly more dubious about the whole event, lowering their heads and eyeing the obstacle doubtfully as they prepared to leap.
With the wall at a record 7ft 5in, Lapino, ridden by South African David McPherson, more or less said, "the hell with this" and turned haughtily away. Minutes later, Irish jockey Peter Charles must have half wished his horse, Traxdata T'Aime, had decided to abandon the event as well when he found himself clinging desperately for life as his horse plummeted to earth again.
Those just tuning in might well have thought that Peter had decided to jazz things up by attempting to circumnavigate the bould Traxdata, ending up, as he did, lost beneath the horse's fetlocks and clinging grimly to life as Traxdata cantered happily along, relieved to be rid of that infernal wall and oblivious (or at least heedless) to Peter's distress. It was a brave old jump, all the same.
Once again, the hard news images of the week were dominated by the face of Michelle de Bruin, who showed all her old spirit in contesting evidence cited by FINA as they implemented a four-year ban. On Friday, RTE attempted to interview her at the Horse Show, but no sooner had the chat begun than Michelle and the TV team were forced to skip away from an unruly horse. That stuff only happens when things ain't going you're way.
