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THE POTENTIAL value of championship match programmes became increasingly evident at yesterday's auction in Dublin of rare and collectable GAA items. Organised by Mealy's of Castlecomer and taking place at the Tara Towers Hotel in Dublin, the earliest known extant of an All-Ireland hurling final programme - the 1913 final between Kilkenny and Tipperary - was sold for €3,600.

All eight pages were in remarkable condition, and the match itself was historic for several reasons as it was the first final where the teams were reduced to 15 players, with Kilkenny's Mooncoin beating Tipperary's Toomevara 2-4 to 1-2.