Dublin tie keeps 4pm start

The All-Ireland football quarter-final between Dublin and Westmeath will remain at the initial throw-in time of 4pm on Saturday week despite a request from the Garda to bring it forward.

After the Central Games Administration Committee held a meeting with gardaí and Croke Park security staff this week it was decided not to move the time for a number of factors, one of which is to ensure the Nicky Rackard Cup final does not suffer with an unreasonable start time.

The third-tier hurling final between Donegal and Derry is on the undercard, but moving the Dublin-Westmeath match to 2pm would mean this game starting at noon. It will now start at 2pm.

"We held discussions with the Garda and they understand why the game will stay at 4pm," explained CGAC chairman Jimmy Dunne. "We are quite happy to keep it the way it is. The Garda felt it should be at 2pm because of the amount of time people have to be drinking.

"Considering it is on Saturday it may not have the same impact on people drinking as a Sunday game would. There is such a wide gap between the two matches to enable a presentation to the winners of the Nicky Rackard Cup."

The GAA have already announced extra security, and gardaí will be in Croke Park for the remaining games this year because of recent pitch incursions, most notably after Dublin retained the Leinster title on July 16th.

A campaign involving intercounty managers has already begun, with the two big screens in Croke Park used to convey a safety message.

Stadium manager Peter McKenna cited the invading Dublin fans and recent fine weather in explaining the hardness of the playing surface at Croke Park. Clare manager Anthony Daly described the pitch as "concrete" and blamed it for Colin Lynch's ankle injury in the All-Ireland hurling quarter-final victory over Wexford on July 23rd.

Tickets for Saturday week are on sale at the usual GAA outlets and through Ticketmaster, and an 82,300 sellout is expected to be announced early next week.

Meanwhile, the Leinster GAC Committee have rescinded the red card Dublin under-21 hurler William Lowry received during last Wednesday's provincial final defeat to Kilkenny. They refused, however, to act on Dublin's objection to Kilkenny's victory.

A Leinster Council statement, released last night, said: "The Leinster GAC Committee is satisfied that William Lowry (Dublin) was sent off in error by the referee. Consequently the red card shown to the player is rescinded. However, the committee is also of the opinion that this error does not constitute grounds for awarding a re-fixture of the game."

Match referee Fergus Smyth from Meath admitted in the leaked referee's report he made a mistake in thinking Lowry had already received an official caution when showing him a yellow card, and subsequently a red card, following an altercation with a Kilkenny player just before half-time.

Dublin lost the final 2-18 to 2-10.

The referee's report also stated the linesman James Owen had informed Smyth that Lowry had stamped on an opponent and the offence merited a straight red card.

Dublin County Board secretary, John Costello, was unavailable for comment last night, so it is unclear if they intend to take the case through the other avenues of appeal, which would be the Central Appeals Committee and the Disputes Resolution Authority.

The Kilkenny County Board secretary, Pat Dunphy, felt the objection was unfounded.

"There is no rule I'm aware of in the rule book that allows a refereeing mistake to lead to a replayed game," he said.

"It's nothing really to do with us anyway. If we were to win the senior All-Ireland semi-final against Clare on Sunday week, any rescheduling of the (under-21) game could only occur after the All-Ireland final."