Injury Time . . . with Jerome O'Connell

CRECORA’S David O’Shea will be part of the Munster team for this Sunday’s Provincial Super Sprint Relay in Croke Park.
As part of the GAA’s continuing 125-year celebrations, the race will commemorate the importance of athletics in the early years of the association.
The Dooneen 20-year-old sprinter has been selected on the Munster team which is captained by Derval O’Rourke.
Fresh from the World Athletic Championships in Berlin O’Rourke is joined, as provincial captains, by international colleagues; David Gillick, Paul Hession and Anna Boyle.
O’Shea earned his place on the team on the back of his fine form at the recent Woodie’s DIY National senior track and field championships in Santry.
At those championships, the Dooneen man finished 4th in 200m and 5th in the 100m in 22.45 and 11.29 respectively.
The race will take place at half time on Sunday during the Tyrone v Cork All-Ireland senior football championship semi-final.

Ardagh native Brendan Fullam
ARDAGH native Brendan Fullam is to publish his eighth book on the GAA. The west Limerick man, who now lives in Wexford, will have ‘Lest We Forget - Gems of Gaelic Games and Those Who Made Them’ in the book shops next month. In the 333-pages there is plenty of interest for Limerick GAA supporters. Among those profiled are John ‘Tyler’ Mackey, Mick Neville and Dick Stokes.
All in Limerick may want to forget last Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final, but recalled in this publication are a number of more memorable encounters from through the ages.
The games featured include the 1944 Munster hurling final between Limerick and Cork, the National Hurling League final of 1958 between Limerick and Wexford and the All-Ireland hurling final of 1973 when Limerick defeated Kilkenny.
Another game recalled is a tournament final between Ahane and Thurles Sarsfields in Newport in 1947.
“Players and games of the early days of the GAA will remind readers of the contribution made by, sadly, the oft forgotten giants of former times, who gave so much and thrilled so man, and sought so little,” said Brendan Fullam in the preface to his latest offering.
“To this end I have profiled, in pen pictures, 98 greats of the early decade of the GAA. This book, in its own way, is a celebration of 125years of growth and progress,” said Fullam. “In each decade, from 1884 to 2008, I have written about, as a minimum; a hurler, a footballer, a hurling game, a football game, a hurling team; a football team. Between the various articles and team selections, several hundred of our Gaelic players have been called to mind.”
Fullam’s latest book is published by Collins Press and will be available next month for €19.95.

Christy Cooney in Ballylanders
GAA President Christy Cooney led the tributes in Ballylanders last Saturday as the local club unveiled a plaque to honour Frank Brazil Dineen.
“Frank Dineen is a significant figure in the early part of the GAA, an assertion supported by the fact that he remains to this day the only man to hold the roles of both Secretary and President,” said Cooney.
“That the GAA can today call Croke Park home is largely down to a man who also helped found the Ballylanders club. It is right and fitting that an event such as this should be organised to highlight his contribution to the Association as a whole. It will inform our members and those interested in the history of the Association of the significance of his input, not just in the acquisition of Croke Park, but in establishing a club in Ballylanders and assisting in the direction the GAA took.”
The specially commissioned plaque is to be found on the gable wall of McDermott’s pub - the birth place of Dineen.
The Pattern Day festival organisers wish to thank everyone for making the event such a success especially the McDermott family for allowing the plaque to be erected on their premises, the local Parish Priest Fr Jack O’Neill for allocating a site for various events and the staff at the Day Care Centre in Ballylanders for catering for the dignitaries.