MICHAEL HOGAN MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT: OFFICIALS AT Tipperary club Grangemockler have estimated that up to €17,000 was spent on preparing for yesterday's glamour intercounty double-header, which fell foul of the weather.

Dublin and Kerry were due to meet in a football challenge, while National Hurling League finalists Kilkenny and Tipperary were booked for a hurling clash.

The games were fixed as part of the GAA’s 125 celebrations, with a series of events organised by Grangemockler to remember former clubman Michael Hogan, who was buried in the village after he was shot on Bloody Sunday 1920.

A commemorative Mass in memory of Hogan on Saturday was followed by a wreath-laying service before a talk on the history of the GAA and the events of Bloody Sunday took place in the village’s new sports hall.

However, club officials took the agonising decision to call off the matches following torrential overnight rain on Saturday evening.

Grangemockler field committee chairman Michael Pender said: “You definitely couldn’t play hurling on the pitch, but, for a while, it looked like we might get the football going.

“Regarding man hours, you couldn’t estimate it . . . while the matches were a huge part of the weekend, it was all about honouring Michael Hogan and we managed to do that,” said Pender.