Dublin out to Spring clean

IT’S MOVING time this weekend in the Allianz National Leagues and both of the football and hurling Division One finalists could be settled before the last day of the season.

This evening also sees the conclusion of Dublin’s Spring Series, which has seen all of the county’s football league matches played at Croke Park and music acts staged on the same promotion. So far it’s been a success and tonight’s attendance should push the total for the four events to over 100,000.

As with the first of the series in February, the county’s hurlers will also play on the same bill. Back then both All-Ireland champions provided the opposition and Dublin’s teams rose to the occasion by defeating Cork and Tipperary.

Tonight it’s the turn of last year’s defeated All-Ireland finalists. Adding to the anticipation is the outcome of the Dublin-Kilkenny hurling and Dublin-Down football matches could see both of the home teams on course to reach their respective league finals.

There will also be another opportunity for those so minded to catch Ireland’s Eurovision contestants Jedward, who will perform between the matches at 6.45pm.

This will be the Grimes twins’ second appearance at a Division One fixture at Croke Park but it will be Down’s first since the stadium was redeveloped 10 years ago. It will also be the first competitive meeting between the counties since a league fixture 16 years ago in Newry.

According to Down manager James McCartan his team has had a lot of familiarising to do over the past 12 months or so.

“Benny Coulter had never played against Kerry and he’s never played against Dublin. I think the last time Down played Dublin in a competitive game was in the 1990s. The advantage of that is that we carry no baggage into these games and hopefully the experience will benefit us in championship football.

“I’d never been in the dressingrooms of the new Croke Park until last year and I played for Down for 13 years, up until 2003, and I was looking jealously at Armagh and Tyrone players going there and playing regularly.”

Should Dublin and Cork, who are away in Castlebar tomorrow against Mayo, win their matches they will qualify for the final later this month. Tomorrow will also go a long way to sorting out the promotion spots in Division Two. Kildare and Tyrone meet in the big match of the afternoon with Tyrone needing to win if their hopes of making a swift return to the top are to be sustained.

At the other end defeat in Derry would propel Leinster champions Meath closer to a season in Division Three.

Dublin’s hurlers have had an encouraging season but manager Anthony Daly was frustrated by last week’s first defeat of the season, an injury-time goal by Galway’s Éanna Ryan tilting a match that Dublin had dominated. They will need to beat Kilkenny tonight but if the result goes the other way, Brian Cody’s side will qualify for a seventh league final in 10 years.

The same applies to tomorrow’s hurling league clash at Pearse Stadium where holders Galway take on All-Ireland champions Tipperary, who still have faint hopes of progressing to the final, knowing that a win will nail down their place in next month’s final.

Another innovation at Croke Park will be the trialling of the Hawkeye technology to test how the score detection system, familiar from tennis and cricket, performs in Gaelic games, according to the GAA “to determine the logistics of positioning and installation of equipment in Croke Park as part of the ongoing feasibility test surrounding the possible use of this technology”.

The system won’t be in use as part of the match officiating protocols this evening but simply to see if and how it works.

Dublin v Kilkenny (SH)5.15, Dublin v Down (SF) 7.30pm and Jedward will be on stage at 6.45pm. Adult stand €13, child €5, terrace €10. Tickets available from GAA Ticket Office on Dorset Street from 9.30am to 5pm today or from Ticketmaster.ie.