O'Sullivan keen to lock horns with Leinster

HE CAN’T have known how close it came to being postponed – and God knows when it would be rescheduled – but Munster interprovincial football manager Ger O’Sullivan is also talking up the significance of Sunday’s semi-final showdown with Leinster.

The game goes ahead in Parnell Park on Sunday – if only after the intervention of Leinster and former Meath manager Seán Boylan, who threatened to withdraw altogether when word filtered through on Monday that Dublin’s postponed Allianz Football League game against Mayo was refixed for this Saturday.

That would effectively have denied Boylan the 10 Dublin players among his 25-man panel, although behind-the-scenes negotiations ultimately ensured the Dublin-Mayo game was put back again, until March 31st.

But whatever about illustrating the enduring conflicts of the GAA fixture list (and the final, by the way, takes place on Sunday week, the same weekend as the Sigerson Cup finals), it was hardly the most promising beginning for the revived Interprovincial series.

Made redundant for the last two years, the once cherished competition was thrown a lifeline when last year’s Congress voted for its revival, provided an agreeable date was found.

“If a suitable window can be found for the interprovincials, I hope this is a competition that will continue for many years,” says O’Sullivan, also a selector on the Cork football team, under manager Conor Counihan.

“A number of our more experienced players were involved when we last won the title in 2008 after a gap of nine years, and an interprovincial medal is something which they cherish greatly, given the historical significance of the competition.”

O’Sullivan also managed the Munster football team for that 2008 victory, and the last time they played Leinster, in 2007, they were also successful, with goals by Cork’s Pearse O’Neill and John Miskella helping them to a 2-11 to 0-12 victory. Leinster last won the interprovincial title in 2006, although the strength of Boylan’s panel reflects his intention to make 2012 a winning year.

For O’Sullivan, who is joined by selectors Maurice Horan (Limerick) and John Kennedy (Kerry), the intention is to call on players from throughout the province, with his 25-man panel to be announced tomorrow.

Munster captured the first ever interprovincial football competition, in 1927, although have since fallen behind on the roll of honour – their 15 titles way behind Leinster’s 28 and Ulster’s 29 – the latter are also the reigning champions from 2009. Sunday’s other football semi-final, involving Ulster against Connacht, takes place at Sligo’s Markievicz Park.

Taking charge of the Munster hurling panel is Tipperary’s former All-Ireland-winning manager Liam Sheedy, who is reunited with his former trainer Eamon O’Shea, plus selectors Stephen Frampton (Waterford) and Jamesie O’Connor (Clare). They face Leinster on Sunday, at Nowlan Park, with Connacht facing Ulster in the other semi-final, in Ballinasloe.

“It would be a shame for the players in particular if this competition was not on the calendar,” says Sheedy. “With the co-operation of the counties involved, we have had three training sessions and a challenge game. Some of the best hurlers in Ireland will be on show in Nowlan Park on Sunday.”

The GAA have agreed special admission prices of €10 for adults, €5 for students/OAPs priced at €5, with all under-16s admitted free.

It was also agreed the Waterford Crystal Cup hurling final between Tipperary and Clare, originally set for this Sunday, would likewise be played at a later date, to avoid a clash with the interprovincial hurling semi-final.

Both Tipperary and Clare are expected to have several players on Sheedy’s panel, and with that conflict in mind the Waterford Crystal Cup final will be refixed for March, possibly in a midweek slot.

However the postponed London-Fermanagh game in Division four of the Allianz Football League will go ahead this Sunday, in Ruislip. Their first-round game was postponed earlier this month due to the snow, but with no Fermanagh footballers called into the Ulster panel, the GAA’s Games Competitions Control Committee refixed the game for this Sunday, with a 1pm start.

Finally, in one further date for the GAA calendar, the 2012 Páidí Ó Sé invitational football tournament will take place from February 24-26th.

Now in its 23rd year, the competition has expanded to include 26 senior, intermediate and junior club teams from 15 counties and the greater London area, to be played across eight match venues in West Kerry, with the men’s senior cup renamed in memory of former Defence Forces chief of staff and Roscommon football legend, Dermot Earley.