New MD ball to challenge O’Neill’s GAA dominance
Dublin have already been using the ball produced by the myclubshop.ie company, owned by long-standing GAA patron Martin Donnelly. Launched last August by players including Dublin midfielder Michael Darragh Macauley, it is in line to make its inter-county season debut in the All-Ireland champions’ Division 1 opener against Kerry in Croke Park on January 30.
The Central Competitions Controls Committee usually supply the footballs for league as well as championship games and as an officially GAA approved ball, the MD product will now be accepted for use on match days providing both teams agree to it being used. The O’Neill’s branded ball has been synonymous with Gaelic football since the 1960s and has seen off several competitors such as the one manufactured by the now defunct Belfast-based Gaelic Gear company in the late 2000s. Although the MD match ball is priced at €40, €10 less than the O’Neill’s one, it has passed all the required tests set out by the GAA and DCU, who have independently verified it.
It will also be used in next month’s interprovincial semi-finals and final, the competition which has been sponsored by Clare native Donnelly since 2001. The football weekend takes place in Newry and Armagh on December 5 and 6 with Munster and Leinster facing off in Páirc Esler on Saturday, December 6. Connacht and Ulster clash in the Athletic Grounds the same day and the Armagh city venue will also host the final.
Galway’s Pearse Stadium hosts the hurling weekend with the same semi-final pairings as in football taking place on the afternoon of December 5. Anthony Daly and Ger O’Sullivan have already been confirmed Munster managers as have Pat Critchley and Sean Kelly in Leinster as well as Pete McGrath and Kevin Ryan in Ulster.
Connacht have yet to name their managers with the ongoing standoff in Galway a possible reason for the delay
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