Kildare granted Croker training run-out

GAA chiefs have finally relented to Kildare’s requests for a training session in Croke Park ahead of Sunday’s Leinster final, with Kieran McGeeney’s squad having a run-out at headquarters last night.

The Lilywhites were given 30 minutes on the pitch and spent that time concentrating on kicking scores into both goals.

It is understood that the official ban on GAA panels have training sessions at Croke Park prior to fixtures at the venue will be discussed at Saturday’s management meeting and is likely to be dispensed with.

McGeeney had been scathing in his criticism of the refusal to allow any team to spend some time on the pitch ahead of games, while rugby and soccer sides were not subject to the same ban ahead of internationals or the Heineken Cup semi-final.

Having initially been turned down, Kildare bosses made an approach to GAA president Christy Cooney over the weekend during his visit to the county for Féile.

The Corkman initially said that the GAA’s official stance was that no teams were allowed to train but by Sunday, word had reached Kildare that they would be given a half an hour.

Kildare had felt that they were at a considerable disadvantage due to the fact that Dublin have already played in Croke Park twice this year, while the Lilies have been performing in Portlaoise, Carlow and Tullamore.

They would have felt that their case was particularly strong as their semi-final against Laois had been moved from Croke Park to Tullamore, to facilitate the provision of tickets to Dublin fans for their semi-final against Westmeath.

Having not kicked up a fuss about that decision, it was argued that they deserved a positive consideration of their request.