Gillespie: Force Dubs to play away from Croker

Meath footballer Conor Gillespie has called on the Leinster Council to force Dublin to play at least one provincial game outside of Croke Park.

Dublin’s last provincial encounter outside of GAA HQ arrived back in 2006, a successful quarter-final clash at Pearse Park, Longford, and anger is mounting at the seemingly preferential treatment afforded to the reigning champions.

Dublin open their Leinster campaign at Croke Park on June 8 and regardless of how far they progress, all fixtures involving Jim Gavin’s outfit have been scheduled for HQ.

The issue dominated a meeting of the Leinster Council recently and Gillespie believes forcing Dublin to travel would enhance the provincial championship.

“There’s definitely an argument, at the preliminary stages anyway. Maybe the quarter-final stage you could bring Dublin down to the provincial grounds which would definitely offer something different for thechampionship,” said the Meath midfielder. “I can see the argument for the early rounds of the championship, but ultimately that’s where the biggest games are played — in Croke Park — so you’re going to have to beat them there at some stage.”

Leinster vice-chairman Jim Bolger defended the decision, claiming Dublin supporters may not travel to a provincial ground which would impact significantly on gate receipts.

Bolger added that there was unanimous agreement from the counties present at last week’s meeting to allow Dublin remain in Croke Park.

“It was given a fair airing by all the counties who attended. The decision to keep the Dubs in Croker was an emphatic one,” he said.

“I suppose if you go back to that Longford game and people keep saying that to us, but as I said the county repsdecided that the best decision for the council was to have Dublin playing in Croke Park given the numbers. The numbers may not travel to a provincial venue because Dublin have been so successful in the last number of years. There is a better chance of getting a bigger crowd in a Croke Park venue.

“It will probably be discussed at next year’s council meeting when we are talking about fixtures.”

Elsewhere, Bolger pleaded with the five counties involved in the contentious Leinster round-robin series to reserve judgement until the conclusion of the provincial hurling championship.

Antrim boss Kevin Ryan andCarlow counterpart John Meyler have already hit out at the round-robin series which they claim is marginalising the so-called lesser counties. Neither county were present at yesterday’s launch.

“I respect certain managers aren’t happy with it, but it is early days yet to analyse it,” continued Bolger.

“You have to see it out. You have to see how the teams that qualify through this system do after before you can make an informed decision.

“I can appreciate Kevin Ryan’s grievances that this isn’t what Antrim signed up for, but this decision was taken democratically. It was decided at Congress to go this route in the overall hope that it would improve hurling standards. The whole objective here is to bring lesser teams up to the standard of those at the top and to make the championship more competitive.”

Meanwhile, Leinster chairman John Horan has backed the Sky broadcasting deal, believing “it will bring a new and positive dynamic to our domestic coverage”.