GAA tackles Ryder mismatch

FOR only the second time in its history, the GAA has agreed to change the date of the 2006 All-Ireland football final to avoid a clash with the Ryder Cup.

Tiger Woods and company are due to tee up against their European counterparts at the K-Club in Co Kildare over three days from September 22-24. The GAA has agreed to move the final back a week to October 1.

"The GAA has been most helpful in ensuring that the two events don't take place on the same day and we are very grateful to them," Richard Hills, director of Ryder Cup Ltd, said yesterday.

The last time the football final was held in October was the Galway-Cork clash of 1956.

There were two reasons for this.

Cork were also involved in the All-Ireland hurling decider that year (when they lost to Wexford) and there was also an outbreak of polio in Cork.

Coincidentally, a member of the Cork side that lost to Galway that year was Paddy Harrington, whose son, Pádraig, is expected to be a key man in the Ryder Cup side in 2006.

Liam Mulvihill, director general of the GAA, said the move to the first weekend of October in '06 will be watched with great interest at Croke Park.

"We have a lot more games nowadays so a permanent switch to early October may well be looked at some time in the future," he said.

It is estimated that 40,000 people will attend on each of the three days at The K-Club.

Tickets will go on sale during the final months of 2004 and those who procure same will be fortunate in the extreme.

"The Ryder Cup goes beyond golf," said Sports Minister John O'Donoghue.

"It is a classic contest, the Old World against the New.

Mr O'Donoghue said the Government places great value on the special contribution that golf tourism is making to the economy, generating nearly €200 million per year.