Mulvihill to join discussion with GPA

THE GPA's hopes of building a more permanent relationship with Croke Park received a boost yesterday.

GAA director-general Liam Mulvihill is to take part in the talks between the players' body and president-elect Nicky Brennan next month.

News that Mulvihill will attend the discussion is significant as he has met with the players' body three times in its seven-year existence.

Dessie Farrell indicated early last week that it would be difficult to establish closer ties between the two bodies without the input of full-time Croke Park officials like Mulvihill.

Outgoing president Sean Kelly has been a man with whom the GPA has been able to work with and to open dialogue in recent years, but he has stopped short of formally recognising the players' representative body.

As a former inter-county player and manager, it would be a surprise if Brennan did not have some sympathy for the players when he assumes office and the GPA are willing to await the outcome of their upcoming meeting before deciding on their next course of action.

"We've done our bit", said the GPA's commercial director Donal O'Neill yesterday.

"We'll go quietly now and let the players get back to preparing for the championship. That will be it until such time as we sit down to talk with Nicky Brennan and Liam Mulvihill on May 2 and we'll get a clear indication of where we'll be going from there," he said.

O'Neill claimed the GPA was delighted with the manner in which the 'dignified protest' passed off last Sunday, and added they were not worried about it being any other way. "We were delighted with the way it went but that was always going to be the case. It's not like we were having sleepless nights on Friday and Saturday over it. We had everything organised and put away by Friday and we were confident that it would go as planned," he said.

The only game that did not adhere to the 15-minute delay was the NHL Division 1A game between Down and Wexford in Ballycran where the tie started eight minutes after the official throw-in time of 1pm.

"I'm not actually sure what the story was up there. It was delayed but it was an early throw-in anyway and maybe somebody just forgot to bring the stopwatch," said O'Neill.

Meanwhile, Limerick's NFL Division 2 semi-final against Louth has been fixed for Newbridge on Sunday at 3pm.

At Limerick's request, the game was fixed originally for noon in Portlaoise because of the clash with the county's NHL quarter-final against Waterford in Thurles (at 4pm). However, according to the Limerick secretary Jimmy Hartigan, Louth County Board requested a later starting time and they acceded to it.

"We have no problem with the fixture,'' he said. "It's a pity the two games are clashing, but it wasn't possible to come up with a central venue to suit ourselves, Waterford and Louth. That's the price of success." He added neither of their teams wished to play on Saturday or on Monday.

Tipperary, who play Offaly in the other quarter-final - also in Thurles - had a training session in Semple Stadium last night conducted by Nicky English. The former manager, who was at the helm when the county last won the All-Ireland in 2001, said he was fulfilling an agreement made to Babs Keating that he would help out on a once-off arrangement.