All Stars Tour: At times it felt like a charade, even a masquerade, but there's no denying the All Star tour has its purpose. On a stiflingly warm evening in Singapore on Saturday - with a thunder and lightening show thrown in for added effect - over 3,000 people gathered in the lavish surroundings of the city's Polo Grounds to watch this game called hurling.
It was a long way from Tipperary, and more like a James Bond film set. And many of the people there could have passed as extras. Yet Saturday's exhibition of hurling was another reminder of how far the GAA has come, and is still going.
A couple of things overheard at Saturday's game summed up the atmosphere: "I thought they'd be wearing more pads" quickly followed by "do you get it?" A lot of people were obviously watching the game for the first time and were obviously impressed.
And why not? The 2004 All Star selection faced off against the 2005 selection (minus the Cork contingent, unfortunately) and even if it lacked the sort of physical contact that often makes hurling, it was a beautiful exhibition of the skills of the game.
For what it's worth the 2004 selection won the game 9-12 to 6-15, which was played as four 12-minute quarters, and also 13-aside. Wexford's Damien Fitzhenry had kept them in it with several classic saves, and thus earned the man of the match award, with Waterford's Dan Shanahan, Eoin Kelly, Dave Bennett and Paul Flynn, Clare's Tony Carmody and Limerick's Niall Moran each claiming goals. Only Clare's Davy Fitzgerald wasn't impressed with that.
"This is a great promotional vehicle," said GAA president Seán Kelly, "not just for hurling but for Ireland as well. And I know the players are totally taken aback with the warmth of the reception they've been given."
The players at least gave something back with their effort. Most of them couldn't see clearly afterwards as the sweat ran down their faces, and possibly because of a particularly warm reception the night before.
Dan Shanahan, who ended with 2-0, said: "It was a brilliant experience. All the lads are getting on so well. Coming out here I wouldn't have known a lot of them, only vaguely. But I feel like I've been playing with them nine months now. It's going to be hard to go back and try kill each other now, but that's all part of it."
2004 ALL STARS: D Fitzhenry (Wexford), E Corcoran (Tipperary), B Lohan (Clare), T Walsh (Kilkenny), JJ Delaney (Kilkenny), S McMahon (Clare), O Moran (Limerick) 0-1, D Bennett (Waterford) 1-1, A Fenlon (Wexford), D Shanahan (Waterford) 2-0, T Carmody (Clare) 2-4, N Moran (Limerick) 1-0, E Kelly (Waterford) 2-1, N Gilligan (Clare) 0-4, P Flynn (Waterford) 1-1, K McGrath (Waterford).
2005 ALL STARS: D Fitzgerald (Clare), P Maher (Tipperary), D Ryan (Wexford), D Joyce (Galway), D Hardiman (Galway), D O'Connor (Wexford), T Regan (Galway) 0-1, F Healy (Galway) 0-2, P Kelly (Tipperary) 1-2, J Mullane (Waterford) 1-1, S Prendergast (Waterford), E Larkin (Kilkenny) 3-1, G Farragher (Galway) 1-2, E Kelly (Tipperary) 0-4, D Forde (Galway) 0-2.
