Galway object to late start for decider

THE GAA are facing a stern objection from the Galway hurling board over the 7pm throw-in for the Allianz National Hurling League final on May 2nd.

Galway and Cork are already through to the Division One final, no matter what happens in the concluding round of games this Sunday, but the GAA’s decision to fix that game for Thurles on the Sunday evening was yesterday described by Galway hurling board chairman Joe Byrne as a “kick in the backside”.

There was some surprise on Monday when the GAA announced details of the final league fixtures, mostly surrounding the 7pm start for the meeting of Galway and Cork in the Division One decider (the Division Two final between Clare and Wexford, Carlow or Laois will throw-in at 5pm, also in Thurles).

Without openly admitting it, the GAA were clearly avoiding a clash with the Heineken Cup semi-final between Munster and Biarritz the same afternoon, which has a 3.15pm start (Irish time) in San Sebastian.

But the Galway hurling board are furious with this decision – not so much with the GAA’s efforts to avoid a clash with the rugby, but rather the idea of bringing both sets of supporters to Thurles on the Sunday evening of a Bank Holiday weekend.

The board met last night to formulate their objection to the GAA, and their likely suggestion for a resolution, according to the hurling board chairman, would be for the GAA to fix the game for the Bank Holiday Monday instead.

“An earlier start on Sunday is one option,” explained Byrne, “but we feel it should be just moved to Monday, and we will be making every effort in the coming days to ensure that common sense prevails.

“We have put a huge effort this year into promoting the game with children and making the link between them and the flagship team in the county, the senior hurlers.

“We have put schemes in place to encourage parents to bring their children along. They all now go on the pitch for a few pucks at half-time during a league match in Pearse Stadium, there are autograph sessions with players, free jersey offers and so on.

“But now, having reached the final, we find that it would be around midnight before they are back home from Thurles, and that certainly does not encourage parents to bring young children. Putting the match on at that hour is a kick in the backside to all the efforts to involve the children right through the league campaign.

“Why on earth are we making it so unattractive to supporters, especially parents, when we should be doing the opposite? We should ensure that the second-biggest hurling final of the year is on at a time that encourages people to attend.”

Under current guidelines, extra-time is also played in the football and hurling league finals – and last year’s hurling final between Kilkenny and Tipperary required exactly that. That was also a part of the Galway objection, given that, if extra-time were required, the game wouldn’t finish until after 9pm.

But one problem with switching to the Bank Holiday Monday is that this is now the preferred date for the All-Ireland Under-21 football final, as it was last year.

But the Cork County Board didn’t initially have a problem with the 7pm start on the Sunday evening, even if avoiding the clash with the rugby was the main motivation.

“In this case it makes sense from everybody’s point of view to avoid a direct clash,” said county board chairman Jerry O’Sullivan.

However, Galway are intent on making the GAA revisit the matter, even if fixtures have rarely been changed based on such objections.

“We will be seeking to have the match changed and we believe that if we make the case then common sense will prevail,” added Byrne.

Surprisingly, the Cork-Galway pairing will mark a first league final meeting between the two, even though they’ve won 22 titles between them. Given Cork’s last league title win was 12 years ago, and Galway’s six years ago, neither team will want to let slip the chance for victory, and that will add further significance to the occasion.

Four years ago, the GAA also fixed the football league final between Kerry and Galway at the Gaelic Grounds for a late evening throw-in, on April 25th, to avoid a clash with the Heineken Cup semi-final between Munster and Leinster at Lansdowne Road.

Still, there was a poor turnout of only 7,598 at the football final at the Gaelic Grounds, the argument there being the league final has a better chance of getting a large crowd if it’s given a prime-time afternoon slot, no matter what it clashes with.