GAA set to grant IRFU request

THIS AFTERNOON in Hayes’s Hotel, Thurles, where the GAA was founded 125 years ago next November, the GAA’s Central Council will meet and amongst the items on the agenda will be the application by the IRFU to stage one of this season’s European Cup semi-finals in Croke Park.

The fixture will only come to pass should champions Munster win their home quarter-final against Welsh side Ospreys. There is the prospect that the semi-final will be an all-Irish affair with Leinster providing the opposition but their quarter-final draw is away to London Harlequins.

If Munster qualify the match is likely to go ahead at the GAA headquarters regardless of who provides the opposition although there would be less likelihood of a capacity 82,000 crowd were Leinster not to qualify.

This afternoon’s meeting of Central Council is expected to approve the request without too much discussion. According to one Croke Park source: “I think the most significant influence was the statement by the IRFU in January that they would not be using Croke Park once Lansdowne Road was rebuilt. That ruled out continuing use of Croke Park for rugby matches. This would be a one-off.”

Tonight in Thurles the floodlights in Semple Stadium will be officially launched with the Allianz National Hurling League match between holders Tipperary and old rivals Cork, who are also due to meet in the first round of this year’s Munster championship next May.

Unfortunately for the organisers and the GAA at large the gala occasion has been completely undermined by the ongoing dispute between last year’s Cork senior hurling panel and the county board over the reappointment of Gerald McCarthy as manager for a further two years.

The dispute is no nearer resolution. Speaking on the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s 96FM, John Gardiner last year’s county captain, reaffirmed his willingness to sacrifice his intercounty career in pursuit of the players’ cause. “If it takes me stepping aside for two years or if it takes me sacrificing my entire career for the betterment of Cork hurling that’s what I am willing to do.”

County chair Jerry O’Sullivan telephoned the programme and said he would not encourage club chairs and other representatives to attend a meeting organised by the 2008 hurling panel in order to brief them on the players’ position.

“I wouldn’t to be perfectly frank because the situation is that the decision is made and is not going to be revisited,” said O’Sullivan referring to last Tuesday’s vote of the county board which endorsed McCarthy’s appointment by 88-13.