McGrath final may be moved to avoid club clash

MUNSTER Council officials will consider switching the McGrath Cup final to Saturday, January 29 to avoid a clash with the rescheduled provincial club SFC final between Nemo Rangers and Dr Crokes.

The freezing weather last month saw the club showdown between the Cork and Kerry champions twice postponed and the game has now been fixed for the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday, January 30 at 2pm.

The McGrath Cup decider was pencilled in for that day but there is a strong chance it will be brought back 24 hours, particularly if either Cork or Kerry are participating.

Munster Council officials have ended up holding the McGrath Cup final on a Saturday the past two seasons with Cork defeating UL under floodlights in Páirc Uí Rinn in 2008 and Kerry getting the better of UCC in a Saturday afternoon clash in Austin Stack Park last January.

“It’s something we’ll consider,” said Munster Council PRO Jim Forbes. “Having games like that clashing is not desirable. We’ll monitor the situation as the competition progresses.

“I don’t think having it on a Saturday will be a problem as it worked fine the last two years.”

The unavailability of the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday January 30 will create a fixture headache for the GAA at national level due to the scheduling of the All-Ireland intermediate and junior club football and hurling semi-finals for that day.

The Munster champions this year are slated to face their Connacht counterparts, and the Gaelic Grounds was geographically an ideal venue for such fixtures having been utilised for these games in recent seasons. Its unavailability will now force GAA fixture makers to find alternative venues.