Leinster chiefs face club final conundrum

THE Leinster Council has not ruled out the possibility of postponing its provincial club football final in the event of Kildare’s Moorefield or Longford’s Dromard reaching the final.

The two clubs will meet for the third time in three weekends in Newbridge on Sunday after two games and two periods of extra-time failed to separate them.

Should the winners of that tie go on to beat Westmeath’s Tyrrellspass in the last four, they would be facing into a fifth game in five straight weeks come the decider. That would be a difficult burden, especially for a club team at such a late juncture in the year but the Leinster Council have little room to manoeuvre given the approach of the Christmas holidays.

With Seneschalstown and St Vincent’s also having played out a draw in this year’s competition, the prospect of another replay would take the competition even closer to the festive break.

While admitting the proximity to Christmas would be taken into account, a Leinster Council spokesperson added that Moorefield or Dromard “could have input” into the final date if they were to reach that stage.

For the past three years, the Leinster Club Football Championship has been done and dusted by the first weekend in December but there are precedents for the competition being taken to the wire.

In 2002, Meath’s Dunshaughlin defeated Louth’s Mattock Rangers in the decider on December 22 while Rathnew of Wicklow edged Dublin champions Na Fianna after a replay on December 23 one year earlier.

There have been two instances in the recent past when provincial club football finals have spilled over into the New Year, both in Leinster.

Éire Óg of Carlow finally defeated Dublin’s Kilmacud Crokes after a second replay on January 31 in 1999 while the same team proved victorious six years before when they saw off Ballyroan of Laois on January 24.