GAELIC GAMES /Championship 2004: A weekend of do-or-die championship football and hurling is set to draw the largest combined attendance of the season, up to 200,000 across the six games. RTÉ plan to broadcast four of the games live, including Sunday evening's hurling qualifier between Kilkenny and Galway - subject to final approval from the GAA, Ian O'Riordan reports
Saturday's hurling qualifier between Cork and Tipperary will be shown live from Killarney, and if the second hurling broadcast goes ahead, Sunday's viewing could extend to almost six hours, starting with the Ulster football final from Croke Park.
That game will almost certainly top the attendance figures, with over 50,000 expected for the meeting between Donegal and Armagh. Donegal manager Brian McEniff last night finalised his starting line-up and it shows one change from that which went in against the All-Ireland champions Tyrone - and came out as five-point victors. Stephen McDermott will start at midfield as a replacement for Brian McLaughlin, where he'll partner Brendan Boyle.
That was the pairing which worked to good effect when McDermott was introduced for McLaughlin 30 minutes into the Tyrone game, and helped established a dominance that ultimately swamped the opposition. McLaughlin is named as a substitutes.
Opposing manager Joe Kernan will announce his team tomorrow evening, but reports a clean bill of health - with Kieran McGeeney in contention for a starting place.
The Ulster Council didn't escape criticism when moving the game from its traditional Clones setting to GAA headquarters, but it appears their thinking was right. Donegal press officer Charlie Cannon yesterday described the "fierce demand" for tickets in the county, while Armagh secretary Patrick Nugent reported the ticket pick-up to be going "very well".
"We're happy that the tickets have been selling very well," added Ulster Council chairman Michael Greenan. "But it's hard to get any true indication of the numbers of tickets going out. We're selling them and the counties involved are selling them, and so too are Croke Park, so we won't really know until the day itself what exactly will turn up. But we'd still be expecting over 50,000."
In Munster, Kerry will start their football final against Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds without influential wing-back Seamus Moynihan. The ankle injury suffered in a club match after the semi-final win over Cork has failed to heal sufficiently, and as a result Mark Ó Sé is recalled into the defence.
Team captain Dara Ó Cinneide is given the nod at full forward instead of John Crowley, and with Declan O'Sullivan ruled out because of a shoulder injury, Paul Galvin returns to start at left-half forward.
The Tommy Murphy Cup - the new secondary football competition - appears to have failed to attract interest. Only five counties yesterday confirmed their participation, and the draw was deferred until tomorrow morning in the hope Cavan might add their name to the hat. The county board will meet this evening to make a decision on the participation. So far the teams confirmed are: Sligo, London, Antrim, Clare and Louth. "That take-up would be considered disappointing," said GAA press officer Danny Lynch, and the new competition is already in danger of becoming extinct after just one season.
The quarter-finals have been set for the weekend of July 24-25th, with the semi-finals set for August 7th. The final will then take place in Croke Park on August 22nd as a curtain raiser to one of the All-Ireland football semi-finals. The winners have been promised a game in Boston against a North American Board selection later in the year.
In hurling news, the Galway team to play Kilkenny in Sunday's qualifier shows just one change from that which breezed past Down in the first round. Tony Óg Regan is called back into the starting line-up and will partner Fergal Healy at midfield. David Collins, who started at centre back against Down, is the player to lose out. In the reshuffle, David Hayes goes from midfield to centre back.
Manager Conor Hayes, as expected, touched none of his six forwards, with Alan Kerins joining David Forde and David Tierney in the half-forward line, and the full-forward line being Damien Hayes, Eugene Cloonan and Kevin Broderick. A proven combination.
Final conformation of RTÉ's intended broadcast of that game will be made today, but the GAA have expressed concern at such a lengthy broadcast on Sunday at a time when clubs have highlighted the effects television coverage is having on their interests.
Cork show just one change for their qualifier against Tipperary. Kieran Murphy is called into the attack in an indirect swap for Timmy McCarthy, and otherwise the team that fell to Waterford in the Munster final is unaltered. Ben O'Connor moves to right-half forward to allow for Murphy's positioning in the right corner. Brian Corcoran will again start at full forward alongside Joe Deane.
Saturday's qualifier between Cork and Tipperary will be an all-ticket game. Tickets are available via clubs and county boards and a limited number will be on sale from the ticket office at the rear of the Cusack Stand in Croke Park this week.
DONEGAL (SF v Armagh): P Durcan; N McGready, R Sweeney, D Diver; E McGee, B Monaghan, S Carr; B Boyle, S McDermott; C Toye, M Hegarty, B Roper; C McFadden, A Sweeney, B Devenney.
KERRY (SF v Limerick): D Murphy; T O'Sullivan, M McCarthy, A O'Mahony; T O Se, E Fitzmaurice, M O Se; D O SE, W Kirby; L Hassett, E Brosnan, P Galvin; C Cooper, D O Cinneide, MF Russell.
GALWAY (SH v Kilkenny): L Donoghue; D Joyce, D Cloonan, O Canning; D Hardiman, David Hayes, F Moore; F Healy, T Regan; A Kerins, D Forde, D Tierney; Damien Hayes, E Cloonan, K Broderick.
CORK (SH v Tipperary): D Cusack; W Sherlock, D O'Sullivan, B Murphy; J Gardiner, R Curran, S O hAilpin; T Kenny, J O'Connor; B O'Connor, N McCarthy, G McCarthy; K Murphy, B Corcoran, J Deane.
LIMERICK (Under-21 hurling v Tipperary): W Tobin; G Heageney, S Barry, J O'Connor; P O'Dwyer, M O'Brien, R Murphy; K O'Mahony, J Ryan; P Russell, N Moran, P Kirby; E Ryan, A O'Connell, A O'Shaughnessy.
