GAA: Pressure is building for the Sligo-Kildare National Football League fixture to be replayed despite the Leinster county's definite relegation. Tomorrow night's Games Administration Committee meeting will consider how the focus of grievance has now shifted to Down who face the drop even though the county finished on five points after an unexpected win over Meath on Sunday.

That still leaves Down and Kildare in the relegation zone but Sligo are just a point ahead on six points - two of which were awarded in the committee room after the county invoked an obscure rule (governing the list of players furnished to the referee) in objecting to a one-point defeat by Kildare.

Although the GAA and Kildare accepted that the decision was technically correct there was a consensus (Sligo on reflection offered a replay) that strict application was harsh given that the infringement was unintentional and the rule itself may not survive this coming weekend's annual congress.

The GAA's Management Committee referred the matter back to the GAC, which was expected to arrange a refixture. But GAC deferred the decision pending the results of last weekend's final series of matches.

By Sunday evening the situation had become more complicated. The one 'surprise' result that many had anticipated never materialised when Laois comfortably beat neighbours Kildare, thus condemning them to Division Two, but both Sligo and Down pulled off good wins under pressure, against Cavan and Meath.

At first glance any refixture is irrelevant in that Kildare's demotion is certain. Although the county could draw level with Sligo on four points, there is still a scoring difference of five between the sides and GAC would be unlikely to allow Kildare claw that back given that even full restitution of the original result, a one-point win, wouldn't close the gap.

Down, however, would benefit if Sligo's finishing total dropped from six points to four.

"There's damn all we can do about it," according to Down county secretary Donal McCormack, "but our feeling on it is simple enough. We gathered five points on the field of play, Kildare got four on the field of play and Sligo got four on the field of play. But we're going to be the sufferers.

"It hasn't been discussed between the officers so I don't know their thoughts and I expect we'll wait and see what happens on Wednesday night. Until then I'd rather not comment."

GAC chairperson Paraic Duffy confirmed that the refixture would be considered tomorrow night but emphasised that no conclusion had been reached.

"Last week's meeting would have been happy to refix the match (Sligo-Kildare) but the decision was made to leave it in case the result would have been irrelevant. GAC will now definitely be talking about this on Wednesday night. My own sense is that it has gone beyond the point where we can be totally fair to everyone involved but we'll be aiming for the best possible solution." Any concern that it would be futile to make Kildare replay a match of no importance to the county was rebutted by county secretary Richie Whelan.

"Well if it's refixed we'll play it. We'd prefer it if the game was at a neutral venue. There's no question of us withdrawing. We'll go and play because we feel we'd have to be fair to Down."

Would this not be an exercise in futility? "Certainly not from our point of view. We'd like to beat Sligo - that would be our motivating factor although it would be of no benefit to us directly. There is a lot of bad feeling about the whole thing and it had an effect on the team in the fixtures against Mayo and Fermanagh. Players were demoralised in those matches."

Sligo, having initially offered the refixture, appear to be having second thoughts but await tomorrow night's decision. "We'll leave it to the GAC," according to county secretary Tommy Kilcoyne, "but we'd have our concerns about it because there's nothing in it for Kildare. We made it clear that we were willing to agree to a refixture. But the situation has changed and it would have been more clearcut had Down lost."

Indications are that there is sympathy for Down's position. In manager Paddy O'Rourke's first season the county registered a creditable two wins and one draw - including an unbeaten record against the Division One B semi-finalists Laois and Fermanagh. Their survival in the division is being threatened by Sligo, purely on the basis of two points awarded.

An interesting aspect of any potential refixture is that Kildare appear very committed to playing and may be bringing Sligo down a division with them - although their hopes for a neutral venue are unlikely to be realised.

Mater, Beaumont on call for Hospitals' Cup

The inaugural Hospitals' Cup in football will be decided on Friday at Parnell Park. The Mater and Beaumont will contest the match and it was officially launched yesterday by a number of eminent football people with connections to the two hospitals, including Pat O'Neill, Gerry McEntee and Noel McCaffrey representing the Mater and David Hickey and Ian Robertson from Beaumont. Throw-in is at 6.00 on Friday night and admission is free.