Late date a ‘turn off for Cork’

LIVE television coverage was a key factor in influencing the GAA’s decision to fix next Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC round four qualifier between Cork and Down in Croke Park for a 6pm throw-in — but the decision has been criticised by Cork County Board chairman Jerry O’Sullivan, who believes it will be a deterrent for their supporters to travel to the game.

The repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final is set to be a double-header at the GAA’s headquarters with the meeting of Kildare and Derry taking place beforehand at 4pm.

The clash between Cork and Down is to be broadcast live on TV3 and it is believed that the 6pm throw-in time was a compromise between GAA fixture-makers and officials from the television station.

The scheduled television slot on a Saturday evening for All-Ireland qualifier games is 7pm and with the GAA initially proposing a 5pm throw-in time, it was felt that 6pm was an agreeable solution for the two parties.

However, the decision has not been well-received in Cork with O’Sullivan insisting that an early afternoon throw-in time would have been more enticing for the county’s supporters. Last year’s round four qualifier double-header in Croke Park saw Monaghan face Kildare at 2pm with Dublin playing Louth afterwards at 4pm.

“It’s very awkward for everyone and it’s an awful hour to have a game at for supporters coming from Cork,” outlined O’Sullivan.

“We felt holding the game earlier in the day would have been more suitable as people would have been more encouraged to travel up to it. When you look at people travelling from places in west Cork, they face a really long trip home after a game that won’t be finished until nearly 8pm.

It’s very inconvenient for them and it may put some people off travelling, as they might feel they’d have to stay the night after the game. It’s not ideal but we had no control over it. Cork supporters are great to travel to support our teams and we’d still hope they’d do likewise next Saturday.”

Elsewhere, Limerick will return to O’Moore Park in Portlaoise next Saturday for the second time in three years when they play Wexford in their qualifier at 7pm. The Shannonsiders were narrowly defeated at the Laois venue in 2009 by Meath by 1-13 to 2-9 at the same stage of the competition. Manager Maurice Horan is satisfied with the choice of venue.

“It’s on the motorway and is fairly direct from Limerick. It’s a fairly straightforward enough journey so it’s not going to cause us much hardship really in our travelling on the day of the game. It’s going to be interesting. Limerick played there two years ago but for the county football teams, it’s a fairly novel venue. There was some talk we were hearing about Páirc Uí Chaoimh being chosen but we’re very happy with Portlaoise. I was up there in February with our U21s, we played a challenge match there against Carlow. It’s a lovely venue and a nice, compact ground.”

The final game next Saturday is the mouth-watering clash between Ulster giants Tyrone and Armagh in round three of the qualifiers. Tyrone will have home advantage in Healy Park in Omagh for a game that is an all-ticket affair and will throw in at 7pm.

Meanwhile, the Waterford and Kilkenny county boards agreed to toss for home advantage for next Saturday’s All-Ireland MHC quarter-final, with the Déise winning the right to host the game in Walsh Park at 7pm. The minor hurling quarter-finals are generally staged at neutral venues, as illustrated by the staging of Saturday’s other tie between Antrim and Galway in Parnell Park at 3pm. But on this occasion, given the fact that Waterford and Kilkenny are neighbouring counties, it was decided that tossing for home advantage made more sense.

The GAA also released details last night of the fixture arrangements of the All-Ireland MFC quarter-finals that are set to take place over the August Bank Holiday weekend. O’Moore Park in Portlaoise will hold a double-header on Monday, August 1 with Munster champions Tipperary facing Meath at 2pm with Leinster winners Dublin in action against Cork at 4pm.

The other clashes take place on Saturday, August 30. Ulster champions Cavan play Galway in Pearse Park, Longford at 3pm while the venue for the game between Roscommon and Armagh has yet to be finalised, pending the outcome of next Saturday’s round three senior qualifier between Tyrone and Armagh.