Speedy run-off for resumed under-21 championships

The under-21 football championship is set to resume in full the weekend after next, with both the Leinster and Connacht semi-finals to be decided on Saturday, March 31st. Those fixtures were among the casualties of the foot-and-mouth outbreak and initially it was feared that the remainder of the under-21 championship might be abandoned.

Following a meeting between each of the provincial secretaries and the Games Administration Committee last Friday, arrangements have now been made to complete the competition as near as possible to the original schedule. The final remains set for April 28th, and the remaining provincial stages will be completed quicker than originally planned.

Extra-time rather than replays is set to be applied in all cases, and that will ensure that the Leinster final can go ahead on the weekend of April 7th. The two semi-finals involve Dublin against Kildare and Meath against Wicklow. The All-Ireland semi-finals are then due to take place on April 14th.

In Connacht, the two provincial semi-finals will also be decided on Saturday week. Mayo face Leitrim at Carrick-on-Shannon, while Galway face Sligo at Markevicz Park. The Connacht Council will meet tonight to determine the date for the final, but it is most likely to be on the following weekend. The Ulster championship also resumes on March 31st.

The Offaly county senior hurling final of 2000 between Seir Kieran and Birr has been rescheduled for Sunday.

The Leinster Council will meet tomorrow night to discuss the implications of pressing ahead with the round-robin qualifying section of the hurling championship, the first games of which were due to take place on the weekend of April 8th. The backlog of hurling league fixtures has now put a major question mark over how the round-robin games could be completed on time and it seems almost certain a knock-out competition will now be employed.

Meath, Wicklow, Carlow, Kildare, Laois and Westmeath were due to play out a roundrobin competition on April 8th, 22nd and 29th to decide who would face Dublin on May 20th. But the clash with at least one round of the hurling league means that the round-robin is likely to be scrapped. "It does look like this will be the competition to suffer," said Leinster council chairman Seamus Aldridge. "It may be possible to reach some sort of compromise, but with one of the weekends taken up by the league it is going to be difficult."

Also to be determined by the GAC tomorrow night is the fate of Dublin footballer Jason Sherlock. His term of suspension for a straight red card during the league game with Roscommon back on February 10th was due to be decided last week but the more pressing matter of refixing the league dates took precedence.

Having missed the original Croke Park hearing due to overseas commitments, Sherlock will only now present his case. He is likely to miss the remainder of Dublin's league fixtures.

The lull in fixtures due to the foot-and-mouth scare has worked out well for a number of players currently serving suspensions. The break in the GAA calendar was still ruled as a valid period for suspension by the GAC and that has benefited the likes of Larry Kavanagh and Ciaran Whelan.

Kavanagh can resume his place with Nemo Rangers for the refixed All-Ireland club football final on April 16th, while Whelan won't miss any of Dublin's remaining league fixtures, as he would have previously.

Meanwhile, sacked Wexford minor hurling manager Larry Doyle will tonight have his appeal heard by the management committee of the senior county board.

Doyle was told last week that he had been relieved of his position because of a three-month suspension imposed by the Leinster ladies football council, who were acting on the referee's report into the abandoning of ladies colleges senior football championship game.

Doyle was told he could remain as a selector, but was disappointed with the decision of the under-age board. Only in the post for five months, he had yet to see his side play a league or championship tie.