Knock-out format for Dublin club hurling championship

DUBLIN’S DRIVE for that still elusive All-Ireland continues on Saturday evening when the under-21 hurlers face off against Galway in Thurles but in the meantime there is fresh hope they may yet have some representative in the Leinster club championship.

It’s been agreed the Dublin club hurling championship will now be played off on a straight knock-out basis, with the group stages abandoned. A meeting of the Dublin county committee on Monday voted in favour of the special motion to finish this year’s competition on a knock-out basis: last year’s four semi-finalists will be seeded and go straight into the second round, and there’ll be no relegation this year.

This gives the eventual champions some chance of making the Leinster championship, as they’re due out on October 30th, against the Westmeath champions.

The Dublin football champions are due to play the Meath champions in Leinster on October 23rd, but with the county championship still on hold given Dublin’s involvement in the senior All-Ireland, making that date remains unlikely. However the Leinster Council meets tomorrow evening and will hear the latest request for some additional time from the Dublin County Board.

Also announced yesterday were details of the 2011 Kilmacud Crokes All-Ireland Football Sevens, which will once again be played on Saturday week, on the eve of the football All-Ireland, and this year in association with the Blue September cancer awareness campaign.

The competition will also feature a Dublin Legends versus Rest of Ireland Legends charity game. The Dublin Legends team will be captained by Ciarán Whelan, while Darragh Ó Sé leads the Rest of Ireland Legends. Other players taking part include Blue September ambassador and Dublin and Kilmacud Crokes’ Johnny Magee, Mayo’s Conor Mortimer, Kerry’s Séamus Moynihan, Wexford’s Matt Forde, Armagh’s Kieran McGeeney, Dublin’s Paul Curran, Jason Sherlock and Jim Gavin, Monaghan’s Dick Clerkin and Armagh’s Stephen McDonnell of Armagh.

This is the 39th year of Ireland’s premier sevens tournament.