The panic is over for the Leinster Council as Croke Park will be available at acceptable capacity for the duration of the summer. There had been some uncertainty caused by the slow progress of redevelopment work at headquarters and fears expressed that the ground would be unable to host the big provincial championship matches in the coming months.

At a meeting in Croke Park last night, Leinster officials sought and received clarification on the availability of the ground. Provincial secretary Michael Delaney expressed himself satisfied with the arrangements which mean that only one change has been made to the programme of venues.

That sees the Laois-Westmeath match switch to Tullamore on the Bank Holiday, Monday, June 5th. Preparations for this were so far advanced that it was decided not to re-locate it to a double bill presentation with the Meath-Offaly tie in Croke Park on the previous day.

Key to the resolution of this matter was the announcement that seats in the lower deck of the Canal End stand would become available almost immediately, even though the upper, corporate level is not yet ready. This will bring the capacity of the ground up to around 44,000 - sufficient for virtually all fixtures up to Leinster's football final.

This extra accommodation means that the Dublin-Wexford match will go ahead as part of a double-bill with Kildare-Louth. Earlier in the week there had been a suggestion that the former match was to be re-fixed for a provincial venue. This brought an unhappy reaction from Wexford whose seniors had defied expectation to qualify from the preliminary round-robin series of matches.

The county hasn't played at Croke Park since 1994 when they lost a Leinster semi-final to Meath. Having looked forward to reaching Croke Park this year, the county was disappointed to be faced with the prospect of playing in Portlaoise or some such venue.

"That was never on the cards," according to Delaney. "We honestly don't know where that rumour came from. The double-bill was never changed. The most important thing for us is that the hurling semi-finals can now take place on the same afternoon. Over the last 25 years, this has been one of the most exciting programmes in the year. It would have been an awful pity to have to break them up."

So instead of Kilkenny-Laois going ahead in Carlow or Kilkenny-Dublin in Nowlan Park, that semi-final will be played with Offaly-Wexford on June 18th. The same capacity will apply to the Leinster hurling final, but by the end of July the hope is that the upper deck of the Canal End will be completed and that the ground will be able for a crowd of around 60,000.

Croke Park is an important resource for Leinster Council. Without it, the province would have no decently sized venue for big matches. "People like their comfort," says Delaney, "and providing it is our biggest problem. The greatest amount of seats outside Croke Park is only 3,000 or 4,000 in Navan or Portlaoise. Even Kilkenny, which is quite good in other ways, is too far south for the convenience of football counties."

By the time the All-Irelands are played this September, the capacity of the ground will be targeted at over 65,000.