Ulster defer fixing big-game venues

The Ulster Council has deferred decisions on the venues for some of its major provincial football championship matches next summer

A meeting was held last night to finalise all dates ahead of this weekend's meeting between the four provinces, but a final decision on some Ulster venues will only be made after progress reports on stadium capacities.

The preliminary-round game between the All-Ireland champions, Tyrone, and Derry has been fixed for May 9th, and provisionally set for Omagh. That venue, however, is currently undergoing renovation, including repair work after recent fire damage, and it is unclear whether it will have the capacity to accommodate the fixture.

Similarly, should Tyrone progress, they are then set to meet Fermanagh at Enniskillen in the first round proper. That game, along with the other first-round game between Down and Cavan, set for Newry, may also be moved to an alternative venue because of concerns over the stadium capacity.

"We would definitely be anticipating a very large crowd for the meeting of Tyrone and Derry," explained Ulster Council secretary Danny Murphy. "But that venue won't be finalised in the short term, but rather after we get a progress reports on the work at Omagh.

"There are similar concerns about whether or not the capacity of the grounds at Enniskillen and Newry will be suitable for the games involved. So they are three games anyway that we will probably have to come back to."

The main reason for this weekend's meeting between the four provincial councils is to avoid as much as possible any major conflicts in the latter stages of their championships, and also to allow breathing space between games in the All-Ireland football qualifier series.

While the Ulster football final has been set for July 11th, the same day as the football final in Munster, the main talking point this weekend will be how to avoid the scenario where beaten provincial semi-finalists are forced to come out a week later for the qualifier series.

That remains one of the main concerns of the back-door system, and something the GAA is eager to avoid as much as possible.

In other news, meanwhile, the search for a new Dublin senior hurling manager is now, according to county chairman John Bailey, at an "advanced stage".

Dublin remains the last high-profile county without a senior manager in position following the surprise resignation of Marty Morris last month, although former selectors Mick O'Riordan and Tom Ryan have been acting as caretaker managers in the interim.

"The process is coming towards a conclusion," said Bailey, "and should be completed within the next week. But the new appointment will then have to go before the next county board meeting for ratification, and that is not scheduled until December 8th.

"But I am confident we will have got the best man for the position, whether he has come from inside or outside the county."

In football, only Waterford and Wexford remain without managers.

Both counties are also known to be in the latter stages of their search but so far no appointment dates have been set.

In Wednesday's paper it was reported that the GAA's overseas broadcast rights holder Setanta would be introducing a pay-per-view option for homes in Britain.

In fact this service has been available for the past two championship seasons through a package of 12 Sunday broadcasts, featuring live matches, The Sunday Game and other programmes each week, at a cost of £50.