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In the first part of this Episode I consider the breaking news that Cian McBride has opted to join AFL side Essendon on a two year contract and the fact that this is a blow to both the County Team and also his club St Ultan's going forward. The highly rated eighteen year old was set to be part of the Royal's set up on their return to the top flight in the National league in 2020. The 6ft 5in youngster impressed at trails in Dublin last monthe and was quickly recruited. 

Essendon general manager, Adrian Dodoro stated that 'Cian had impressed with his athleticism for his height by recording a six minute, seventeen second 2KM time trial along with 2.99 seconds in the 20m sprint'. 

It of course is a blow to both his club and county and it is another example of the young talent that is now being targeted by Australian Football and as a consequence lost to our own home games. While larger counties may be able to absorb such losses, smaller counties loose the top young talent and also then struggle to find any continual means of gaining on those already dominating the 'top end' of the GAA hierarchy. 

The whole issue around replays in club championships and eventual sudden death playoffs was once again to the fore this weekend in Ulster but are they a legal way to decide a game? 

There is some confusion over the actual legalities of the so called penalty shoot out, as it has hastily replaced the free kick shoot out and may not have been ratified properly! 

The question is and there enough legal buffs around the halls of GAA clubs etc to test this out, are the results of games decided in this way open to an appeal from the losing side?