Thurles likely to host All-Ireland U-21 hurling final

This year's Bord Gais Energy All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship final is likely to be held at Semple Stadium in Thurles for the first time since 2006.

Subsequent deciders have taken place at Croke Park, although the 2006 drawn game between Kilkenny and Tipperary was hosted at GAA Headquarters.

GAA Director General Paraic Duffy confirmed this afternoon that Semple Stadium has been mooted as the possible venue for the U-21 Championship decider over the weekend of September 11-12.

Speaking at today's launch at Croke Park, Duffy said: "It probably won't be played here. It all depends on who is in the final. It is more than likely to be played in Thurles.

"The idea is to play it on a Saturday night 0 Saturday, September 11 - as a double bill with the U-21 'A' final and the U-21 'B' final. The likelihood is that it will be played in Thurles."

Since 2006, the Under-21 Hurling Championship final has been on the same billing as the Gala All-Ireland Camogie finals, and Duffy confirmed that the camogie finals will still take place at Croke Park.

"The reason for that is we want to play both the (U-21) 'A' final and the (U-21) 'B' final (together). The problem for the last number of years is that the 'B' final ends up being played in front of two men and a dog in some place. That's not fair on the teams at that level," he explained.

"We want to play the two finals together and it is not practical to play two camogie finals and two hurling finals on the one day. They want to play the Junior and the Senior. It is nor practical to play four finals.

"If you want to play the 'A' and the 'B' finals together, then it means having it as a stand alone event. We don't want to clash with the camogie finals, so we are going to play it on a Saturday night.

"The camogie finals will still be played here (at Croke Park). In fairness, they will be here on the Sunday and I'd expect we'd play on the Saturday.

"I assume it will be Thurles because normally it's the natural venue for the teams that will be involved.

"I think the idea of playing the All-Ireland U-21 double bill is attractive. Let's see how it goes and how popular it proves."

Duffy concedes that moving the Under-21 final to a different venue may have a negative impact on the attendance for the camogie deciders.

"They would have a concern about it, but the decision to put them together was on a two-year trial basis and it was extended," he said.

"I think camogie are disappointed to be honest. But the issue here is we have had a lot of disappointment on the part of the teams in the 'B' final.

"When it's played as a stand alone fixture, we simply don't have an audience and in terms of the development of hurling we want to play the two finals (together) to give the weaker counties a bit of profile. That is the reason for the decision."