Who is the hardest running man in the GAA? There is one man who stands out above all the others in this contest.
That man is Donegal selector Maxi Curran. John Treacy covered less ground in Los Angeles in 1984 than Maxi does in your average 70 minute match.
Rare is the break in play that Maxi doesn't take as his cue to deliver an urgent message into the ear of a Donegal player.
It's quite probable that Maxi hasn't seen a kick-out in years.
For whenever a goalkeeper clips the ball off the kicking-tee, Maxi is invariably in the process of scampering back to the touchline and has his back to the action.
At the last-12 match between Donegal and Galway last year, Curran's on-field forays were so regular that it became a source of real amusement to the crowd in the lower Hogan.
Those rival supporters who aren't capable of laughter during the white heat of battle tend to become by annoyed by Maxi's constant incursions.
He may yet become the first selector to be fitted with a GPS monitor.
He is beginning to rile opponents, it seems.
Banty 'Seamus' McEnaney (adopting the Phoenix practice when referring to Ming 'Luke' Flanagan) is keen to see someone shout stop soon. Speaking to the Irish News today, he appears to suggest that there is gamesmanship going on here.
Maxi chose a Conor McManus free close to full-time as the ideal time to relay another message to one of his foot-soldiers.
When Conor McManus was hitting his second last free, Maxi Curran ran straight across him and their other water carrier came out in front of some of Monaghan's kickouts, so I would see a lot of that being tightened up this weekend.
The debate about management encroaching onto the field is as old as the hills. One of the many controversies to arise from the 1983 All-Ireland final was Kevin Heffernan sprinting onto the pitch to attend to a recently floored Joe McNally right at the moment when Galway keeper Padraig Coyne took a kick-out.
As wing back Seamus McHugh detailed, with masterful use of euphemism, Coyne 'got involved verbally with Heffo', a costly decision as the kick-out flew into Barney Rock's arms. Rock hit a snap shot which, with a gale force wind behind it, beat Coyne in the race to the net.
