LEINSTER SECRETARY A BIG FAN OF DUBLIN'S MONEY It's now a couple of weeks since Leinster Council secretary Michael Delaney outrageously spoke of how his province needs Dublin, commenting: "Nowadays apart from the Dublin games in Croke Park, the general public are apathetic about our games. The frightening thing about this is that if Dublin hit a trough, or go out early, it will have serious "nancial implications for our council." Just what the rest of Leinster wanted to hear. And while we don't want to give this too much publicity, there are a few questions we'd like to ask.

Did Michael ever realise the apathy stems from the poor performance of the rest of the county teams in the province and that maybe his attention should focus on this problem? Do his comments mean that Dublin will never be asked to play away from Croke Park again, leaving the rest of the province facing a greater struggle and causing greater apathy still? Does he realise that Dublin are the one team that don't have to travel to Croke Park and when bigger games are held outside the venue, local supporters travel in far greater numbers while Dublin fans tend to watch TV? Do his comments put pressure on referees to favour a team so crucial to the future of the GAA? And does Michael forget that it's only 10 years since Dublin were in a trough and Kildare and Meath "lled Croke Park three weeks running in 1997, after which a member of his council approached Glenn Ryan, offering him a voucher for two free drinks in the bar?

Clearly they don't need all that much money to keep going anyway.

Compiled by Ewan MacKenna emackenna@tribune. ie