Friday'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.

Benny Coulter has revealed to the Irish Examiner that Down will travel south on Saturday in preparation for Sunday’s Allianz League clash with Cork.

Last year, the Mourne men were beaten by 11 points on Leeside after travelling down on the same day as the game, but Coulter says they won’t make the same mistake twice.

"We’re travelling down on the Saturday [tomorrow]," said Coulter. "Last year we went down on the day of the game and we weren’t right.

"This year, we’re going down in the morning so we’ll have plenty of time to relax and get a few rubs and stuff like that. We have to be competitive against them. We played them twice last year and they beat us well in both games. We have to try and stay with them and hopefully in the last 10 minutes we can push on."

The Irish Examiner also reports that Cork hurling captain Donal Óg Cusack has helped launch a major fundraising drive in aid of an injured club player, Dessie Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald, who played for Cork at minor and intermediate level, suffered spinal injuries during a game last October while playing for All-Ireland junior club finalists Charleville.

Middletown Na Fianna captain Ryan Gaffney insists that Armagh hurling is on the rise ahead of his side’s All-Ireland intermediate club final clash with Mount Leinster Rangers on Saturday night in Croke Park.

"There has been definitely a lot of work trying to improve the hurling. Paul Kelly (Armagh hurling board chairman) set out plans to restructure hurling in the county and get coaches involved, going around the primary schools," said Gaffney in the Irish Independent.

"It seems to be working. There are a lot of good underage teams coming up -- the minors and U-21s have all got to Ulster finals and if we can keep them coming up, we'll have a decent senior team."

The Irish Times quotes Michael Kavanagh, who called time on a glittering Kilkenny career on Thursday.

“Not winning a minor All-Ireland was my one regret,” Kavanagh joked. “But really, how could I have regrets? I arrived for a golden era in Kilkenny hurling and I got to play with and against some of players who will forever be remembered as giants of the game.”