Thursday'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.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, former Dublin manager Paul Caffrey says Kerry were more hurt by last year’s All-Ireland final defeat than they were by the 1982 defeat to Offaly, which brought their five-in-a-row dream to en end.

"I’d have a lot of friends in Kerry and they’d say it was even worse than ’82," Caffrey said. "That’s saying something. The Kerry players that I have seen this year are driven in a way that I haven’t seen in the last four or five years."

In an interview with the Irish Times, Kildare veteran Dermot Earley has offered a theory on why so many GAA players have suffered cruciate knee injuries in recent years.

“I often wondered about the strength and conditioning that has come an awful lot into GAA in the last couple of years,” said Earley, who is currently in the final stages of his rehabilitation from the injury.

“There’s a difference between professional and amateur . . . you don’t always have someone looking over your back to say you’re doing that squat right or you’re doing that curl right on your hamstring. Maybe there was an imbalance there where our quads might have been strong but our hamstrings weren’t, and when you have an imbalance like that something’s going to go.”

Kilkenny defender Jackie Tyrrell is looking forward to the latest instalment in the Cats-Tipperary rivalry, as the sides prepare for battle in the Allianz Hurling League on Sunday.

“It rumbles on, I suppose," said Tyrrell in the Irish Examiner. "When the league fixtures were made [last year] and we had Tipperary in the first round we couldn’t wait to get at them. They are proud hurling men down there and they are hurt after last year and will be thinking exactly the same way. They probably have a few scores to settle.

“This time last year we were sitting here, they were All-Ireland champions, and we were going up to them. We couldn’t wait to get a crack at them and I’m sure they are [the same]."

Meanwhile, the Irish Independent reports that Joe Canning could be back in action within two to four weeks as the shoulder injury he suffered in the Fitzgibbon Cup may not be as bad as initially feared.

Canning is awaiting the results of a scan and an examination by a specialist before the extent of the injury is known.

Munster have been boosted by the inclusion of Kerry’s Marc Ó Sé in their squad for the M Donnelly Interprovincial final against Ulster on Sunday.

Marc attended training in Mallow, alongside his bother Tomás, after missing the semi-final win over Leinster last Sunday, the Irish Examiner reports.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, Donegal’s Patrick McBrearty has admitted that juggling his football career with studying for the Leaving Certificate can be tough going.

"But it's torture sometimes. There are people pulling out of you everywhere. Training's an hour away from where I am in Donegal. We head away at 4.30 and mightn't come back until nine. Then I'd have to study for two hours. Of course it's tough, but there are only a couple of months left."