Wednesday's GAA In The Papers

Catch up on all the latest news, views and GAA-related rumours in www.gaa.ie's latest daily feature, GAA In the Papers.

The Irish Examiner reports that Martin Connolly and Paul Jordan have decided to step down as Mayo selectors.

The pair informed manager James Horan of their decisions after the management team met to carry out a review of the 2011 season.

“There’s a huge amount of time required and I just couldn’t give it the commitment for another season," said Connolly.

Meanwhile, Kerry selector Diarmuid Murphy has been speaking to the Irish Times about his role in the Kingdom’s management team ahead of Sunday's All-Ireland final.

“Last year I was playing with the club and really enjoyed myself. We’d always played with the club, but now I got a chance to train with them as well,” he said.

“Jack asked me did I want to get involved about this time last year. I said I would and naturally enough when you get involved you’re naturally watching things a little closer than you had been doing before. I’ve enjoyed breaking down other teams and looking at the tactics they bring to it and how we can counteract that.”

Also speaking to the Irish Times was Dublin midfielder Denis Bastick, who has graduated to the Dubs’ Senior team from the Junior side that won the All-Ireland Junior title in 2008.

“I think junior football is a great competition,” he says. “You’re putting yourself in the shop window, getting a bit of exposure to inter-county football, and that’s what the players did in 2008. If you look back at it, we had a great team, a great management, and a great panel. You got myself, you got Eoghan O’Gara, Mick Fitzsimons, Darren Daly, on the panel as well. So it brought on a good few of us.”

Writing in his weekely column in the Irish Times, former Kerry midfielder Darragh Ó Sé has backed the Kingdom to beat Dublin in Sunday’s All-Ireland final.

“In the end, I fancy Kerry to take it,” he writes. “I just think that if you match their best players up against Dublin’s best, they will have too much in their locker. Bernard Brogan is a great player and, as I wrote here a couple of weeks ago, his semi-final performance sent him way up in my estimation.”

One man who agrees with Ó Sé is Jimmy Smith, the man who captained Armagh in their 1977 All-Ireland final defeat to the Dubs.

“I think that this current Dublin side has yet to maximize its potential and while they will get a great chance to achieve this on Sunday, the big question is whether Kerry will allow them to do this or not,” said Smyth in the Belfast Telegraph.

“Dublin have wonderfully talented players in Bryan Cullen, Stephen Cluxton, Ger Brennan, Ross O’Carroll, Bernard, Brogan, Diarmuid Connolly and others, but this final represents a massive test of their psyche and character.”