Portlaoise gets under-21 final

The Dublin-Galway All-Ireland under-21 football final has been fixed for Portlaoise on October 6th.

A big crowd is expected given that the two counties have just one All-Ireland at this level between them. Galway won the title 30 years ago whereas Dublin have never managed to.

This may have influenced the choice of O'Moore Park, which has a larger capacity than the touted venue O'Connor Park in Tullamore.

Meanwhile, Ger Hegarty is being tipped to replace Dave Keane as manager of the Limerick under-21 hurlers who last weekend completed an All-Ireland three-in-a-row.

Hegarty, who was on the previous Limerick team to bring home the All-Ireland under-21 title - the county's first in the grade - has been working with the county minors in recent years.

A spokesman for the County Board said that Hegarty was short-listed, and also hinted that former All-Star Gary Kirby, another member of the '87 side, was also in contention.

In Clare, former Kerry All-Ireland footballer John Kennedy has taken over the county footballers.

He succeeds Pat Begley and follows in the footsteps of Kerry's current trainer and Ireland International Rules manager John O'Keeffe who managed Clare in the mid 1990s.