Portaferry boss says Thurles ‘not neutral’

Portaferry manager Sean Young says Thurles is "absolutely not" a neutral venue for their All-Ireland club SHC semi-final against Kilmallock next month — but insists it won’t matter much to his players.

Young is more concerned about supporters following the call by the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee to stage the game in Semple Stadium. It will mean a 636km round trip for the Down and Ulster winners.

“It’s a Munster venue against the Munster champions,” said Young. “It’s not what we wanted but they are the cards we have been dealt. There was correspondence between the clubs and we were consulted on our view and we thought Portlaoise would have been a bit closer to a halfway house. We won’t be making a big deal out of this. Logistically, it doesn’t matter to us travelling an extra bit further to Thurles. Had it been in Dublin, we would have travelled down the Saturday morning but anywhere further and we were planning an overnight stop.”

The game, which has a 2pm throw-in, is the curtain-raiser to Ballyhale Shamrocks’ clash with Gort in the other semi-final at Semple Stadium (3.45pm).

Meanwhile, Slaughtneil have succeeded in having their All-Ireland club SFC semi-final against Austin Stacks moved back a day because of a wedding.

The fixture will take on February 15 in Portlaoise’s O’Moore Park with a 4pm throw-in, avoiding a clash with the Ireland v France Six Nations game on St Valentine’s Day, which has a 5pm kick-off. The other semi between Corofin and St Vincent’s is in Tullamore’s O’Connor Park (2pm).

All four semi-finals will be broadcast live by TG4.