TV VIEW: 'TWENTY-THREE degrees in the shade - it must be the Munster hurling championship," as Mike Finnerty put it in his commentary box at the Gaelic Grounds. Indeed by half-time Liam Griffin, Dáithí Regan and Jamesie O'Connor had done a semi-Monty in the TV3 studio-cum-glasshouse by stripping off their jackets; only our host, Matt Cooper, felt cool enough to remain fully clothed.

A steaming hot Championship debut, then, for TV3 as they brought us the clash of Clare and Waterford. A Sky Sportsish intro to their coverage they gave us too: "Gladiators prepare for battle . . . focus the mind . . . and dream of glory . . . let the Games begin," over images so stirring the blood would rush to your head and spout out your ears like a geyser. Up for it, they had us.

But before this game began, Jamesie reminded us Clare hadn't won a Championship match since 2003 and since then had been beaten by an aggregate of 49 points. "Deplorable," he said.

"So who are you going for today," asked Matt.

"Clare," said Jamesie.

So, an "all bad things must, surely, come to an end" approach, though his optimism was influenced by Waterford's woes: they would have been at full strength yesterday but for the absence of assorted Galacticos, among them Eoin Kelly, Ken McGrath, Eoin Murphy and Paul Flynn.

Come full-time, Jamesie was beaming. "Back to old values," he said of the end to Clare's Munster drought, while Liam offered some words of encouragement to Waterford, the vanquished Munster champions: "They've got two choices: either do it now or get off the pot."

Meanwhile, up in Ballybofey and over on RTÉ, Joe Brolly was urging Derry to remove themselves from the pot too, expressing the hope that they would relieve themselves of a mixed recent Championship record by flushing Donegal down the drain in their Ulster meeting.

"Ulster's very even this year," said Michael Lyster.

"Yeah, but it's not clear if it's evenly good or evenly bad," said Colm O'Rourke, who anticipated "an orgy of hand-passing", divil a kick in sight.

The loss of Seán Marty Lockhart was, Joe fretted, a blow to Derry, but he advised us that his replacement, Francis McEldowney, would "put his head where you wouldn't put a crowbar".

Colm, purring in appreciation, took this as a compliment to Francis, but Joe, his nose wrinkling (like it does) under the weight of his spectacles, intimated that this was a sign Francis was a bit bubbleheaded.

And bubbleheaded, to be frank about it, was all you could say about Derry's approach to point-taking in the first half. "As Dan Maskell used to say: unforced errors," said Colm, who then sang the praises of young Michael Murphy, who, bless him, is starting his Leaving Certificate this week, for his rasping forehand volley down the tramline which netted Donegal a goal from a penalty.

"If Anelka did that Chelsea might be European champions," he said. "But he didn't - God is good," as our Granny oft put it.

The main topic of conversation, though, at half-time was the height of the referee. Seriously.

"Any time you have a small man refereeing a man's game they tend to give frees easy," Colm complained, arguing that "you should have big men refereeing big championship matches."

Whereas, and we're guessing here, Dustin Hoffman would be grand to look after London v Carlow?

Michael and Joe exchanged befuddled glances and agreed on an ad break. Wise move.

Second half. Derry found their shooting boots. And won.

And that seamlessly links us to Craven Cottage last Thursday night where Ireland beat Colombia in match two of Giovanni Trapattoni's reign.

No more than ourselves, Bill O'Herlihy is giddy with excitement about the new regime. In fact, we reckon, no more than ourselves, he spent Thursday night looking up hotel availability in South Africa for 2010.

"Did you see serious positives that would allow us to look forward to the qualifiers and say to ourselves, 'South Africa here we come'," he asked John Giles after the 1-0 triumph.

"I don't think you can be as dramatic as that, Bill," said Gilesie, dousing Bill's flames of optimism with a tankfull of watery caution. Hate that.

"He's played two matches, Bill," he said, at which point Bill, no more than ourselves, cancelled those reservations for hotels in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth. "It's a starting point, Bill," said Gilesie, "that's all."

True. And Trapattoni isn't getting carried away either. Although he did praise his full-backs. Yes, he did muddle John O'Shea and Damien Delaney a bit in his post-match chat with Tony O'Donoghue, complimenting not Damien O'Shea but John Delaney. Have we heard that name before?

""Ulster's very even this year," said Michael Lyster.

"Yeah, but it's not clear if it's evenly good or evenly bad," said Colm O'Rourke, who mournfully anticipated "an orgy of hand-passing", divil a kick in sight.