Dublin league final double header 'unlikely' to get green light

GAELIC GAMES:IT MIGHT be tempting fate to even suggest it but having passed the halfway stage in the Allianz Leagues Dublin are ideally positioned to make the football and hurling finals – and with that in mind has come the suggestion of a double-bill of finals in Croke Park.

The football final is scheduled for April 24th in Croke Park with the hurling final a week later, May 1st – most likely in Thurles. Although Dublin currently top Division One in both leagues, it is, according to the GAA, far too soon to start discussing the option of bringing the hurling final forward a week and thus creating an attractive double-bill.

“I would think it’s extremely unlikely,” says Fergal McGill, head of games administration and player welfare. “Some people don’t realise the impact that would have on club fixtures, moving the final of the hurling league at that late stage. That’s not saying it definitely couldn’t happen, nor wouldn’t be considered.

“But looking at the remaining fixtures I don’t think anyone could be certain of Dublin making a league final in hurling or football until after the last round of matches. And even if bringing the hurling final forward was to be considered at that point there would only be a week to prepare and that creates other problems of their own.”

If Dublin made either final it would a notable event: the footballers last made the final in 1999, losing out to Cork, while the Dublin hurlers haven’t contested a league final since 1946, when they lost out to Clare, after a replay.

If the hurlers are to reach the final they will have to do so without the services of their captain Stephen Hiney, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season. Hiney suffered a complete rupture of his anterior cruciate in the win over Wexford on Sunday.

Elsewhere, fears that Monaghan football captain Darren Hughes may have sustained a serious injury late on in Sunday’s defeat to Dublin in Clones have eased. Hughes was released from hospital on Sunday evening with only minor muscle damage to the chest and neck area.

Paul Galvin looks set for his first start of the season when Kerry travel to Armagh on Sunday. Galvin togged out for last Sunday’s win over Galway, yet didn’t feature but manager Jack O’Connor indicated afterwards he was ready for some action.

Kildare football manager Kieran McGeeney found himself rejecting any involvement in the recent resignation of county chairman Pádraig Ashe, following his team’s two-point win over rivals Laois, in the Division Two.

“Next thing I’ll be blamed for The Famine, Fianna Fáil . . . If anything goes wrong anywhere it’s all ‘McGeeney did this’,” he said. “People like to make things out that county managers are the most important and most powerful people. We don’t get a vote on anything . . . To me, Pádraig Ashe worked very hard at his job and he should be given space. He obviously had different reasons for quitting. He said there were personal reasons and I think everyone should respect that.”