It’s been a while, I know, since I last posted on here, with work pressures and the onset of Christmas robbing me of everything in the area of free time over the last while. The Festive Season itself will provide a respite but things aren’t set to change on the work front in the New Year, which is likely to have ongoing implications for the amount of activity I’m able to get up to here, which in turn perhaps raises wider questions about this whole project. That’s one for another day, though.

The depths of December it may be but there’s been a fair bit going on over the last while, some or all of which is worthy of a mention. So, in no particular order, here goes.

Like most other people who have an interest in Gaelic games I was deeply saddened by the news yesterday of the untimely passing of the great Paidí Ó Sé. Having recently turned 50 myself I’m both old enough to have witnessed at first hand a few of those All-Ireland finals in which Paidí was racking up his collection of eight Celtic crosses and to acknowledge with a degree of discomfort that the legendary late Kerryman passed away at an age that is less than ten years ahead of my own.

Photo: Hogan Stand (Inpho)

Paidí had success as both a player and a manager and while I think it’s fair to say that he’ll be most remembered for his uncompromising performances at half-back and latterly at corner-back for Kerry during that unprecedented period of success they enjoyed (and the rest of us endured) from 1975 to 1986, his track record as manager shouldn’t be overlooked either. Sure, there was more than a bit of the buffoon about him on the sideline, in particular in more recent years, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that it was under Paidí that Kerry’s long (for them) period in the wilderness came to an end (ironically against us) and that he led them to two All-Ireland titles in his time in charge, as well as later on guiding Westmeath to a first ever Leinster senior football title in 2004.

On the field and off it, Paidí Ó Sé was a larger than life individual who contributed enormously to the GAA during his too-short period on earth and the GAA world is all the poorer for his passing. May he rest in peace.

Next up there’s the FRC proposals, which I have to confess I haven’t read in detail as yet. There seem to be a number of worthy items included in the proposals for change but I have to admit that the criticisms of them made by both Aidan O’Shea and the Indo’s Martin Breheny rang fairly true for me. As I’ve said, though, I’ve yet to look at the proposals in detail as yet so maybe it’s best to refrain from saying more about them until I get the time to do so.

Talking of Martin Breheny, I see that we’re placed fourth in his end of year rankings. Fair enough, I guess, and it’s up to us to prove this – and our current 11/1 odds for Sam in 2013 – wrong in the year that lies ahead.

Onto the Club Stars bash, which was held in the Knockranny Hotel in Westport on Friday night, where the team of the year and the various individual awards were announced. Full details on who won what will be contained in this week’s Mayo News but that paper’s sports Twitter feed has some info on the night’s winners – here.

Finally, the annual County Convention takes place tomorrow night at the McWilliam Park Hotel in Claremorris, where throw-in is set for 7pm. The various convention reports just landed into my inbox a short while ago but I haven’t yet had the chance to go through them and, with the final episode of this season’s Love/Hate on the telly later on and a few other things to do in the meantime, I’m not sure I’ll get the opportunity to do so before the night is out either. As I said at the outset, there’s just too much other stuff on at the minute.