B Championship: There is still some confusion about the timetable for the All-Ireland B football championship, accepted by Congress last weekend.

At first it was thought the competition would be inaugurated in the summer of 2005 but according to an announcement by GAA president Seán Kelly during last Saturday's debating session, the championship will start this summer.

But Stephen Banaghan, chair of the Weaker Counties Task Force, which recommended the idea and is charged with identifying the counties eligible to enter, says the matter hasn't been finalised.

"It's not 100 per cent yet," he said, "because it's most important that it will go smoothly in its first year. I think it's intended to start it this year and we hope now in the next fortnight to look at the possibility of playing it this summer."

The field will be open to eligible counties who are eliminated from the championships before round three of the All-Ireland qualifiers.

There has been a roughly stable list of "designated" counties over the past year but that will probably be subject to revision given the rise to prominence of such counties in the category as Laois, now Leinster champions, and Limerick, National Football League semi-finalists for the first time this season.

"Eight counties have indicated that they are available to enter this year," according to Banaghan. "I'd prefer not to name them until the whole thing is redefined. Then we'll be contacting them."

One Croke Park source echoed the uncertainty.

"My understanding was that it was supposed to be next summer but it will be this summer according to the uachtarán. GAC is meeting on it this weekend.

"Technically, Congress changes come into effect after a month but counties have made their arrangements for this summer and drawn up their fixtures list."

To accommodate the championship this year will require immediate attention from the Games Administration Committee who will have to rewrite the fixture list.

The issue has caught the authorities a little on the hop.

Even those closely involved in canvassing the opinions of the counties had sensed resistance to the idea of revisiting a subsidiary competition for football.

This was partly influenced by the history of the old All-Ireland B title, which enjoyed a heyday in its first years at the start of the 1990s when it was played during the winter and initially attracted big crowds as counties like Leitrim (1990) and Clare (1991) won the competition as a precursor to achieving success at senior provincial level.

Interest in the idea tailed off, helped by at times erratic scheduling, and its profile had receded by the time Fermanagh won the last title in 2000. Banaghan acknowledges that this time around it was a hard sell when he and his task force met the counties.

"I'd say the response was lukewarm but we said that it would have a higher status than in the past. It's designed to help the traditionally weaker counties."

Tony O'Keeffe, chair of GAC, admits he was a bit surprised at the outcome of the Congress vote but feels that scheduling it won't necessarily be a major logistical undertaking.

"All the feedback was that it would be defeated. I understand that it is to go ahead this summer. It's no secret that unless we put these matches on the same weekend as the qualifiers there'd be major difficulty."

But if counties are going to make plans at the start of the year they generally make optimistic allowances for being in the qualifiers for more than two rounds.

"There will be a new list of designated counties approved. As soon as we get that we'll find out how many of them want to take part.

"We'll be discussing it this Saturday (tomorrow) but won't make any decisions on the fixtures until the following meeting on Tuesday 5th May."

Of the counties likely to be in the category two at least expressed enthusiasm when contacted.

Clare PRO Des Crowe was asked would they be entering. "Very definitely," he replied. "One of the men pushing for it is our own Frankie Griffin (a member of Banaghan's task force) and we would have been supportive. We're drawn against Kerry in the championship and if we win that, against Cork. So if we lose one of those we'll be taking part."

Louth secretary Pat Toner also responded positively.

"Yeah we've agreed. We hope we won't be in it of course but if it goes ahead and we're out before the second round of the qualifiers, we'll enter."