“All I’ll say is it will be an interesting year... actually I mightn’t say too much. But it will be interesting, as the year goes on, that’s all I will say.”

Davy Fitzgerald didn’t give much away in his post-match interview following yesterday’s Walsh Cup semi-final win over Kilkenny.

“It’s crazy stuff with a load of fixtures coming up and it’s still only early in January. I mean the whole fixtures thing is a bit mad at the moment.”

The Fitzgibbon Cup competition is due to get underway this weekend and Brian Cody highlighted the hectic schedule that some of his players will face in the coming weeks.

“That’s three games in six days. So the planners, this scheduling that the GAA is talking about, is gone horribly wrong again.”

Cody’s Dublin counterpart Mattie Kenny echoed his sentiments about the upcoming third level competition.

“I’d be hoping that that’s still not a foregone conclusion, that we might get a neutral venue.”

Galway's Micheal Donoghue is hoping that Leinster GAA will look favourably on their request for the Walsh Cup final against Wexford to be played at a neutral venue.

“I wouldn’t go drawing parallels like that at this time of year – it’s a bit early for that.”

Clare joint-manager Donal Moloney brushed aside suggestions that his team could build on their Munster SHL success in the same way that Limerick did last year.

“Clare had that bit more hunger and more pace too. Their running game really hurt us.”

Liam Sheedy has work to do ahead of Tipp’s Allianz HL Division 1 campaign.

“It’s very hard for referees and it’s unfair to put them in that situation.”

Galway manager Kevin Walsh has sympathy for the plight of referees in trying to implement the experimental rules.

“You’d always be happy with a win but it’s a work in progress. It was nice to get a good match. There’s a lot of tidying up from our point of view.”

Anthony Cunningham’s first competitive game in charge of the Roscommon footballers ended in a five-point success over Sligo.

“Everyone knows how serious they (Tyrone) take it. It will give us a good measure of where we are going into the Kildare game. It’s good to have more games.”

Kieran McGeeney and Armagh will be aiming to win a first McKenna Cup title since 1994 when they square up to Tyrone next Saturday.

“I’m only making comments on players we have here training and working with us.”

Donegal manager Declan Bonner refused to be drawn on speculation over the inter-county futures of Mark McHugh, Stephen McBrearty and Darach O’Connor.

“We knew Derry would make it tough for us and we were fortunate in that we were able to bring on that little bit of quality at half-time which helped us over the line.”

Peter Harte’s arrival on the pitch swung the McKenna Cup semi-final against Derry in Tyrone’s favour and Mickey Harte now turns his attention to the Orchard County.

“I cannot emphasise strongly enough that we have lots more work to do.”

Oak Leaf boss Damian McErlain will be hoping that can navigate their way out of Division 4 in the months ahead.

“Delighted with our performance – and, of course, it’s great that we got a victory with that little twist at the end.”

Dublin’s stand-in manager Paul Clarke and Dublin’s ‘third string’ will play host to Westmeath in this Friday’s O’Byrne Cup decider.

“We would love to have another game, but it is what is and we’ve just got to go focus on the league now.”

Andy McEntee’s Meath lost out to their next door neighbours on penalties.

“We brought a little bit of momentum into training this week, having beaten a Division 2 team in Kildare. We wanted to get to the final and now we’re looking forward to it.”

Jack Cooney guided Westmeath to a penultimate stage victory over Longford.

“It was extraordinary that we didn’t score from play.”

Longford’s shooting let them down according to manager Padraic Davis.

“Terrible, terrible display, so it was. So many errors, so many mistakes, we have a lot to work on. I was very disappointed with our display to be honest about it.”

Despite their McGrath Cup final victory over Cork on Saturday, Clare manager Colm Collins wasn’t happy with his team’s performance.

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