Money matters have been much to the forefront in the world of GAA over the past few weeks.

The ongoing furore regarding the 'pay for play' debate, the publication of the Association's financial performance over the past twelve months and latterly the news release of the latest arrangements regarding sponsorship of the All Ireland competitions have all occupied attention.

No shortage of copy then to fill the newspaper columns which in its own way is good news for the Association. It reflects the high profile position it holds in the day to day sporting life of the country.

All three topics are of keen interest to the Association's membership, but the latter two lack the sheer, raw news quality and intense hype that has been generated by the, ' pay for play' controversy.

This has been the subject which has been dominating the headlines, for it has been a battle waged by two diametrically opposing camps on a core issue.

It has been fascinating to observe the intricate interplay that has been ongoing as a solution to the 'grants' problem is teased out.

That old soft shoe shuffle routine. I stepped out and you stepped in again as the two sides edged towards a compromise that everyone could live with.

This is all par for the course, routine negotiations, where all concerned realise that there has to be some backtracking in order that accommodation can be reached. Or at least it is to be hoped that all concerned accept that you can't always get everything that you might wish for.

The ball for some weeks was in the Central Council's court but that august body has now lobbed a return ball across the net.

It fact, to continue the tennis analogy, Central Council I think has served up an ace.

I don't think those on the opposite side of the net, the 'Of One Belief' camp, will be able to return this latest, full pitched delivery.

To ensure that it will prove exceptionally difficult to do so, Central Council has made it a double whammy.

It has come first in the form of a carefully crafted motion from Headquarters that will be debated at the upcoming Congress. Considerable thought and creativity has been put into wording this. But then there is no shortage of experienced personnel in the upper echelons of the Association capable of undertaking this delicate task.

Incidentally there was never any doubt but that it would make it onto the Congress agenda, unlike a plethora of other motions which failed to clear the hurdle set by the scrutinising committee charged with vetting the legality of motions.

It will take some adroit and nimble verbal footwork on the part of the 'Of One Belief' group if they can mount a feasible counter attack to this.

Secondly, there has been the release of the arrangements, regarding the allocation of the government money.

This has undergone a remarkable transformation from the original, issued way back in the autumn. It has shown that the mandarins have taken account of the massive unrest and unease the whole matter was causing at grass roots level.

Here again is a deliciously, delicately crafted form of words. For example in the title description of the document there is no mention of finance whatsoever. And it is finance after all that has been the root cause of all the hullabulloo. Worth quoting in full.

"Annual team performance scheme and annual support scheme for the development of excellence in the indigenous sports of hurling and Gaelic football."

In its own way, a little gem.

Further indication that they are determined to put this issue to bed, Croke Park claim to have covered all angles.

They have stated that that they have sought specialist legal advice at European level which has given assurance that the proposed scheme was complaint with Rule 11, European Law and tax exemption.

In the face of this salvo the 'Of One Belief' response has, not surprisingly, been relatively muted. In fact there is a plaintive tone about it.

Spokesman Mark Conway asserted that a new case was to be mounted but was unable to confirm what type of objection would be presented. More interestingly he complained that time constraints would make doing so all that more difficult.

In effect the goalposts have been moved significantly by Croke Park and it will require nimble dexterity by Conway and company if they are to avoid being marginalised.

All over, bar the shouting, I would suspect. Game, set and match to the GAA leadership.