As for the Junior Hurling, it was "a curtain-raiser because it was agreed there would be a curtain-raiser".
The GAA intends to play the Tommy Murphy Cup Final at Croke Park on 27 August as the curtain raiser to the second Bank of Ireland All Ireland football championship semi-final.
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The free concert on Thursday, which also acts as a curtain raiser to the new football season in the US, will see the band playing in Times Square and Giants' Stadium in New York.
At least there's no danger of that happening this time - this tournament has been scheduled correctly, it is a curtain raiser to the Test matches and the team that comes out on top will carry valuable momentum with them into the winter's main event.
Gloucester's date with Newcastle is the pick of the early ties at Twickenham's traditional season curtain-raiser.
The fixture will be a curtain-raiser to New Zealand's own Four Nations warm-up Test against Samoa.
Spain was a curtain-raiser for the second world war pitting the great totalitarian blocks against one another.
An inspection on Sunday decided that the retractable roof should be kept shut for the Premiership curtain-raiser.
The Crusaders predict that the Racecourse curtain-raiser will be a 10, 500 sell-out for the visit of Leeds.
India won the toss and opted to bat in the curtain-raiser of the triangular series, which also features a weakened West Indies.
In a possible curtain-raiser to campaigning for November's mid-term elections, Donald Rumsfeld attacked critics of the administration's policies on Iraq and terrorism.
An inspection took place at 0900 BST on Sunday, when it was decided that the retractable roof should be kept shut for the Premiership curtain-raiser.
Danny Boyle's spectacular Olympic curtain-raiser topped iPlayer viewing in 2012 with 3.3 million requests, in a year that saw record numbers achieved by the BBC's on-demand service.
The one-off challenge match provided an ideal curtain-raiser for the Champions Trophy, with Australia showing their determination to prove they are still the game's top one-day side.
The new county cricket season is almost upon us - with the traditional curtain-raiser between the MCC and the county champions kicking off the season at Lord's on Thursday.
Chelsea's 2012-13 season officially began when the Blues faced Manchester City on Aug. 12 in the FA. Community Shield, the annual curtain-raiser between English soccer's league champion and the FA Cup winner.
For scene setting, I recommend you read two curtain-raiser posts by veteran observers of the negotiations: Michael Levi at the Council on Foreign Relations and Andrew Light at the Center for American Progress.
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It could be some time before a hearing is arranged as both clubs are on pre-season tours with United back to take on Portsmouth in the Premier League curtain-raiser, the Community Shield, on 10 August.
With preparations in hand to turn the forthcoming party congress into a curtain-raiser for the new Jiang-Li era, nothing would give the Chinese leaders greater satisfaction than a full and abject official apology from Mr Hashimoto for Japan's militaristic past.
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