But our caller was intrigued by a Dublin/Cork flag - two flags on the same pole - in the crowd on Sunday night. Dublin footballers, Cork hurlers: it can only have been waved by Bertie Ahern.

LONGFORD DEBACLE SHOULD BE AVOIDED Sideline Cut from six weeks ago.

"What once we all feared would be a damp squib of an opening day to Championship 2007 turned out to be great fun altogether, especially Longford and Westmeath. Even RTE's sideline team got carried away, saying to Luke Dempsey that while his old charges in Westmeath were now consigned to the firstround qualifiers, Longford had avoided such a fate. Actually, Longford will have to beat Laois, and then someone else again to avoid that first-round qualifier. And guess who they could meet there?

Yep, Westmeath again, maybe even in Westmeath. Longford should always have last Sunday, but if they meet and lose to Westmeath in the qualifiers, they won't."

It isn't right, on anyone. If Westmeath lose, they'll have played only two games all summer - against the one team. We said it six weeks ago, and no doubt we'll be saying it again later in the year.

There's a lot of fish in that pond, blazers. Next year, spread the love.

NOT TO BLOW OUR OWN TRUMPET BUT. . .

We pointed out on theses pages three weeks ago that Nickey Brennan got it wrong when commenting about incidents involving Graham Geraghty on 3 June. He said that "we don't have the authority to revisit the matter" as a result of the Ryan McMenamin DRA case in 2005.

Gerry McDermott pointed out that the Competitions Control Committee (CCC) have had the authority since January under Rule 144 (Of"cial Guide 2007) to revisit a case and request clari"cation from the referee in the course of investigating a possible infraction not stated in his report even if the incident itself is disclosed. The President said the opposite and was not misquoted as he has since claimed.

But following the recent Central Council meeting it was reported that the CCC "from now on" can contact a referee regarding specific incidents during a game. If the referee is not satisfied with the way he dealt with it, the CCC reserve the right to propose a charge.

Perhaps it is not unreasonable to conclude that many GAA officials and others were not aware of this rule or its interpretation until it was pointed out in this newspaper.

Glad to be of assistance, boys.

Compiled by Enda McEvoy and Kieran Shannon