Sunday's Munster club football final replay will go ahead as scheduled in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. The pitch, which had been badly torn up in the aftermath of heavy rainfall last weekend, was inspected by members of the Munster Council, including secretary Donie Nealon, and was approved ahead of the alternative venue in Kilmallock.
"We are quite pleased with it. It has dried out considerably and is reasonably sound throughout. The worst part is directly in front of the stand, but that area is actually outside the playing boundaries. Of course, the field will be inspected again tomorrow but the overnight forecast is good. . . so we are quite hopeful," Nealon said yesterday.
Reservations had been expressed by both sides last Sunday when it was announced that the replay was to be held in the same venue and Doonbeg manager Pat Hanrahan has admitted that he would have preferred if the fixture was postponed until after Christmas. "I don't see any great hurry with the replay. If the game were to have been deferred until January, it would give the winners a great advantage going into the All-Ireland semi-final," he said.
However, the Munster Council had already set aside this weekend for any possible replay well ahead of the original final. Moyle Rovers manager Jim Cahill was of the view that a delay until the New Year might well see the teams facing conditions equally deplorable as those experienced last week.
He also pointed out that regardless of the result, both teams could relax a little over Christmas by playing the final this weekend.
Meanwhile, doubts remain over the availability of Moyle Rovers midfielder Jimmy Dunne, which would leave the Tipperary side without their first choice midfield (John Owens missed the drawn final through a knee injury).
A call for a better distribution system for tickets to inter-county championship games has been made by incoming Leinster Council GAA chairman, Seamus Aldridge.
He told the Kildare GAA Convention last night that not enough tickets were allocated to Kildare as the county reached the All-Ireland football final in September.
