Centre stage for Dublin's game

The GAA have averted a potential ticket crisis surrounding the All-Ireland football quarter-finals by shuffling with their fixtures for the weekend of August 12th and 13th so that Dublin's meeting with either Galway or Westmeath effectively becomes a stand-alone fixture.

Two quarter-finals - Dublin's match and the meeting of Mayo with either Laois or Offaly - were originally down for Saturday, August 12th.

The Dublin game remains set for that date, but will now be combined with the Nicky Rackard Cup final, a low-key affair involving the best of the tier-three hurling counties.

Mayo's quarter-final is set to move to the Sunday, August 13th, to be played as part of a double-bill with the second of the All-Ireland hurling semi-finals, which involves Kilkenny against Clare.

The GAA's Central Games Administration Committee (CGAC) met yesterday afternoon and came to this arrangement, although a formal announcement of the revised fixtures was held back until this morning as all the counties involved had yet to give their full approval.

"There are still a number of things we need to be 100 per cent sure of before announcing the new fixtures," explained the GAA's information officer Fergal McGill.

"There is a process involved here, and until all of that is completed we're not in a position to finalise the new dates."

There is little to suggest any further shuffling at this stage.

"The only reason for revisiting the fixtures in the first place was the Dublin match against either Galway or Westmeath was sure to attract a sell-out crowd on its own merits, although with the other quarter-final on board, the number of tickets available would have been significantly reduced."

That game now effectively gets centre stage on the Saturday, with the Nicky Rackard Cup finalists obviously attracting a limited audience.

Dublin's Leinster final against Offaly last Sunday week fell just short of Croke Park's sell-out crowd of 83,500, and whether it's Galway or Westmeath they next meet, a similar crowd is guaranteed.

Mayo's only concern was their match with either Laois or Offaly remained in Croke Park, as long as the date was agreeable, and shouldn't be moved to any other venue.

The hurling semi-final between Kilkenny and Clare wasn't expected to draw a big crowd, but with the football quarter-final added to the bill, that date also looks like being a sell-out.

Last week the Mayo board, at the behest of manager Mickey Moran, wrote to the CGAC to ensure no other venue besides Croke Park was considered, at which stage rumours of the Dublin game becoming a stand-alone fixture were already prevalent.

"Our supporters and players deserve the chance to go to Croke Park for an All-Ireland quarter-final," said Moran.

"If it is money that is motivating such a move then the ethos of the GAA has been diluted. We are not asking for anything different from the other provincial champions already through to the All-Ireland quarter-final, just fair play. If Cork or Armagh were put in this situation I would be coming out in support of them."

The other rumour doing the rounds was that either the Dublin or Mayo game would be brought forward to the bank holiday Monday, August 7th. According to McGill, the bank holiday was considered but ruled out.

That would have created three consecutive days of big matches at Croke Park (the two other quarter-finals take place on August 5th, and the other hurling semi-final on August 6th) and raised concerns among the Croke Park Residents' Association.

The other problem with playing on the bank holiday was whichever teams emerge from this weekend's round-four qualifiers would have had only eight days to recover and prepare for their quarter-final instead of the two weeks that will now apply.

Elsewhere, the Wexford footballer Matty Forde had his appeal against a 12-week suspension turned down by the GAA's Central Appeals Committee (CAC) last night.

Forde was handed the ban earlier this month by the Central Disciplinary Committee for stamping on Offaly's Shane Sullivan during the Leinster football semi-final and was thus forced to miss Wexford's championship exit at the hands of Fermanagh.

The Central Disciplinary Committee were able to use video evidence in their investigations as the referee, Jimmy White from Donegal, didn't take any action against Forde on the day of the game.

Forde then, as is his right, appealed his ban to the CAC, who recently lifted the one-month suspension imposed on the Cork defender Anthony Lynch ahead of the Munster football final replay against Kerry.

Forde, meanwhile, has declined to comment on the rumours of his moving to the National League soccer outfit Kilkenny City, but the Kilkenny City manager, Adrian Fitzpatrick, has confirmed his interest in signing the player.