Allianz Football and Hurling League games to be played on St Patrick's Day

ST PATRICK'S DAY ACTION: Patrick Horgan of Cork. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

St Patrick’s Day will once more be a major GAA day next year when Allianz Football and Hurling League games are fixed for the national holiday.

As March 17 falls on a Sunday due to 2024 being a leap year, matches in both competitions will be played on the day. Cork’s hurlers are due to travel to Wexford in their Division 1, Group A game that weekend and their footballers’ Division 2 penultimate round clash with Meath is expected to take place in Páirc Tailteann.

That trip to Navan is one of four away games for John Cleary’s side, the others being Donegal, Louth and Fermanagh.

In football’s Division 1, it is also anticipated Kerry and Roscommon will face off in Dr Hyde Park on March 17. Mayo are down to host Donegal that weekend as Dublin are expected to have home advantage against Galway while Monaghan make the short trip to face Tyrone.

It is four years since the All-Ireland club finals were last played on St Patrick’s Day having since been pushed forward to January. It was also in 2019 that the last Allianz League match was staged on March 17 when Clare faced Meath in Cusack Park.

The 2024 All-Ireland senior club football and hurling finals have been organised for the weekend of January 20-21, two weeks after the football semi-finals. The hurling last four matches are slated for December 16-17.

Meanwhile, the Leinster Council are expected to change the schedule of their senior hurling championship when they release details for the 2024 staging later this week.

It is understood the council’s competitions control committee is to adopt a similar schedule to Munster’s whereby games will be played across six weeks as opposed to five as has been the case the last two seasons.

In 2022 and ’23, all six teams played five games in five weekends with a break weekend between Round 3 and 4. It is envisaged there will be one or two weekends when one or two fixtures will take place.

As reported by the Irish Examiner last year, the Leinster and Munster councils have agreed to play their SHC finals on the Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon of the same weekend on an alternate basis.

However, they have yet to confirm which of them will be played on Saturday in 2024. The last Leinster final to be staged on a Saturday was the 2022 Kilkenny-Galway decider whereas the previous Munster showdown was the replay in 2010 when Waterford defeated Cork.