Armagh-Dublin game postponed

This afternoon's National Football League Division 2 encounter between Armagh and Dublin has been postponed due to an unplayable pitch.

Referee Derek Fahy walked the Crossmaglen pitch with his match officials at 1.40pm and deemed that the eagerly-awaited tie would not go ahead due to poor pitch conditions.

However, there was widespread anger, particularly amongst the sizable travelling support from Dublin, that confirmation of the postponement was made public just 40 minutes before the scheduled throw-in.

There has been heavy rainfall, particularly in the north of the country, over the past 48 hours and last night's league games between Tyrone and Donegal and Down and Limerick were also called off.

Although Fahy's decision was readily accepted by both the Armagh and Dublin camps, there were question marks over why the Longford official had not been on site earlier to survey the pitch.

Upwards of 9,000 spectators were due to attend the game with the Dublin supporters now having made a wasted journey.

This is the second postponement of a Dublin match in the last two weeks – their Parnell Park clash with Monaghan fell victim to the weather on March 15 before it was re-fixed for last Sunday.