There is sure to be plenty of debate in the coming days about the long-standing practice of county champions having the right to name the captain of their county side.

While the tradition has been dispensed with in most counties, it continues to apply in Kilkenny and Kerry, who are the newly-crowned All-Ireland champions in hurling and football. But neither Lester Ryan nor Kieran O'Leary - who were appointed captains at the start of the season (O'Leary was handed the role in Kerry after his Dr Crokes team-mate Colm Cooper suffered a season-ending injury in February) - started their team's respective All-Ireland finals.

O'Leary was introduced for Kieran Donaghy in injury-time last Sunday, while Clara clubman Ryan came on for the injured Michael Fennelly with three minutes to go in this evening's hurling final replay, having failed to feature in the drawn game. In both instances, it appeared to be a case of just having them on the field of play before the cup is handed over.

Would it not make more sense for these counties to appoint captains who are regular starters?

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