Henry Shefflin is looking increasingly likely to return for Kilkenny's Leinster SHC opener against Offaly or Laois next month.

Cork footballers Anthony Lynch and Nicholas Murphy are injury concerns for next month's championship opener against either Tipperary or Limerick next month.

IF what we endured at Pearse Park yesterday is typical of what we can expect in 2008 then God help Gaelic football. Apart from a handful of exciting scores and the threat of a tight finish, this was diabolical football.

All the drama of this quarter-final in Aughrim was packed into the closing minutes as Wicklow -- trailing by three points -- were awarded a late penalty.

TWO goals in quick succession proved crucial as Offaly overcame Westmeath in Tullamore.

FEARS that Longford could be seriously weakened for the All-Ireland qualifiers by a player exodus to America were expressed by manager Luke Dempsey after yesterday's first-round defeat by Westmeath.

On a glorious day at New York's Gaelic Park, Leitrim had no problem cruising through to the next round of the Connacht championship with an 11-point victory over a New York side that was lacking in a substantial amount of positions.

Leitrim 0-17 New York 0-6
Championship debutant Emlyn Mulligan tallied up 11 points as Leitrim easily qualified for the Connacht SFC semi-finals tonight.

Monaghan 2-15 Cavan 1-16
Monaghan's hurlers came with a fantastic late surge as they edged Cavan in this afternoon's Ulster SHC clash at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Westmeath 2-10 Longford 1-10
Westmeath made a hard slog of it as they opened their Leinster SFC campaign with a poor three-point win over Division 3 side Longford today.