Just a quick one to confirm that the long-awaited qualifier draw takes place live on RTE 2 on Sunday evening, at the butt end of the Sunday Game Live programme.  They don’t do the draw till after all the live action is over and only then after they’ve shown highlights of the other matches that are due to be played at the weekend (i.e. the ones they’ve bother to cover).  The draw is set to take place at 6.40pm so it’s safe enough to catch the weather forecast over on RTE 1 first before reaching for the zapper.

The other bit of news is this odd interview with baby-faced Pierce Hanley who says he was homesick in Oz but intends to stay there but would like to play for Mayo when he’s not playing over there.  Hmmm: if there are guys over here on a full-time basis with the requisite talent who can’t even get a place on the panel (I can think of at least one example), I can’t see how someone who is only going to be back here on his hols can reasonably expect to get a look in.  If, as he says, he’s not coming home for good for a long time then he has to accept that there isn’t a cat’s chance in hell that he’ll play for the county until his days Down Under are over.