No early pass for France into Croker

ANY possibility of the GAA offering an immediate concession on the use of Croke Park for Ireland’s World Cup qualifier with France is totally unrealistic, according to Sean Kelly.

The association president declined to comment specifically on the issue, confining his remarks to the situation now that Wicklow have passed a motion supporting calls for Croke Park to be leased to the Government - who could then sub-let it for use by the soccer and rugby authorities.

“As a result of what was decided at the Wicklow convention, the matter will now be on the Clár (agenda) for Congress. And, as Uachtarán, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on the matter,’’ he said.

However, he acknowledged his views on the use of Croke Park for other sports were already ‘well known.’

“Nothing can happen between now and Congress. Everybody has to understand that and I think everybody does!

“Anything else would only be pure speculation by people who want to make a story out of it!’’

In his report to the Dublin Convention, secretary John Costello said that the time has come to ‘decide once and for all’ whether to open up Croke Park.

“It’s on the agenda every year, yet no definitive decision is being made one way or the other. It is time to consider the issue in great detail, debate and discuss it for a few months and then make a definitive, binding decision which will become policy for a set number of years,” he comments.

Meanwhile, Na Piarsaigh are demanding action to be taken by the GAA against a section of Dohenys supporters who allegedly hurled racial abuse at two of their players during Sunday’s Cork SFL final in Ballineen.

There was no garda presence at the game and no complaint has been made by the Na Piarsaigh club, Dohenys, players or supporters concerning any incidents at the game.

“We are concerned if such allegations of serious violence and racist comments happened that the victims have not complained to us to date, despite wholesale media publicity surrounding the matter,” said a garda spokesman yesterday.

The alleged comments which provoked unsavoury incidents among both sets of supporters on the embankment were believed to have been directed towards the Ó hAilpín brothers, Seán Óg and Aisakie.

However, this has been discounted by Dohenys chairman Raymond Lyons.

“I have it on good authority that nasty personal comments were directed at our players and that is what sparked off the row among the crowd”.

Additional reporting by Sean O’Riordan