Hawkfield or nowhere? Uncertainty over venue for Kildare's clash with Offaly 

The Kildare GAA Hawkfield Centre Of Excellence. Picture: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE

Uncertainty surrounds Kildare’s designated home venue ahead of their forthcoming Joe McDonagh Cup second round game against Offaly on Sunday week.

With Newbridge’s St Conleth’s Park unavailable due to reconstruction, Kildare have to provide an alternative venue to host their senior championship games this summer.

It is believed the county are keen for their centre of excellence in Hawkfield to stage the game as well as their Sam Maguire or Tailteann Cup round-robin game in May or June.

However, concerns have been expressed about the suitability of Hawkfield for those fixtures. For last Sunday’s Division 2A final between Kildare and Offaly in Portlaoise, over 3,000 were in attendance and it is unlikely the grounds would be able to accommodate a similar crowd.

With strong aspirations of reaching the Joe McDonagh Cup final having topped Division 2A following the round stages, Kildare will be keen to retain home advantage against a team they narrowly lost out to for promotion to Division 1 last season.

The venue for the game is to be confirmed by Tuesday with the possibility of the game being played at a neutral venue not ruled out.

In 2018, Kildare successfully protested that their senior footballers’ Super 8 game against Mayo be played in St Conleth’s Park after the GAA had originally fixed it for Croke Park.

Kildare open up their McDonagh Cup campaign away to Carlow tomorrow afternoon as do Offaly when they host Laois in Tullamore. Both games throw in at 3pm.