No plans to move Ulster clash from Healy Park

BOTH THE Tyrone County Board and the Ulster Council have effectively ruled out the prospect of Croke Park staging next month’s Tyrone-Armagh provincial quarter-final. The game is fixed for Healy Park in Omagh on May 31st and looks set to remain so – despite calls from Tyrone manager Mickey Harte to switch it to Croke Park.

Tyrone secretary Dominic McCaughey said the county executive had already examined the matter and he didn’t envisage a situation where they would revisit it.

“The game has been fixed for Healy Park and we have no plans to change the decision of our county committee” said McCaughey. “We are happy that Healy Park is up to holding such a game.”

Ulster Council secretary Danny Murphy was equally adamant that the game would remain fixed for Omagh. Ultimately it was Tyrone’s choice to request another venue, either Clones or even Croke Park, if they felt Omagh’s capacity of just over 22,000 wasn’t suitable for the expected attendance.

“The Tyrone county committee had the issue put before them when they were given the right to host the game,” said Murphy, “and they voted to play the game at Healy Park. There has been nothing to suggest that they would wish to alter that.

“Tyrone have invested a lot of money in Healy Park in the last few years to put many facilities in place, like a new stand, modern dressingrooms with a warm-up area, a new press box and improved access to the stands and terraces.”

On Tuesday, Harte made a fairly passionate plea for the game to be switched to Croke Park, saying “it would be sad, if not ridiculous, if we don’t take up that option” and that “this is about creating the best possible environment for our teams to play in. We need to give every generation of player every opportunity we have to play in Croke Park.”

It is understood, however, that the Ulster Council are still open to a final decision on the issue within the next two weeks. Croke Park have already made the stadium available, and it is still possible that the Ulster Council will suggest to Tyrone that the game would be better off in a bigger venue such as GAA headquarters.

In the meantime Harte also said that he intends on doing everything he can to get the game switched to the larger venue.

Meanwhile, new Cork hurling manager Denis Walsh will be without injured duo Seán Óg Ó hAilpín and Kieran Murphy (Sarsfields) for the visit to All-Ireland champions Kilkenny on Sunday.

Both players left the field early in last Sunday’s win over Limerick. Ó hAilpín was making his first league appearance of the season but suffered a recurrence of a hamstring problem and was forced off before half-time. He is facing up to four weeks recovery which means his next competitive game may be the Munster championship opener against Tipperary on May 31st.

Murphy sustained a shoulder injury which also forced his early retirement, although he is still in contention to return for the concluding league game against Waterford on April 19th.

Tipperary can secure their place in the league final if they defeat Galway on Sunday. Five-time All Star Eoin Kelly has returned to training this week, but is still unlikely to figure in any competitive action until the championship opener against Cork.

Kelly has been troubled by a lower back injury for the past several months but manager Liam Sheedy was confident he was on road to a full recovery.

“Eoin has made great progress and has been doing a lot of running for the last three or four weeks and a good bit of strengthening. Obviously with the striking and the movement we wanted to take our time but thankfully, he’ll get the hurley in his hand this week.”