Donegal officials to meet with GAA bosses
DONEGAL GAA officials will meet with the Croke Park hierarchy today to discuss and clarify matters relating to venue selection for the Super 8s phase of the All-Ireland football Championship. The GAA confirmed that Dublin will play the Ulster champions in their opening Super 8 fixture at headquarters on Saturday week. However, the All-Ireland champions are also likely to play either Armagh or Roscommon in their final group game at Croke Park, as that is Dublin’s designated home game. Donegal came out swinging on Tuesday evening, with a statement saying that they are to seek clarification from the GAA on what constitutes a neutral venue for the re-structured All-Ireland quarter-finals. The argument that Parnell Park, rather than Croke Park, is Dublin’s home ground is open to debate. While that is the case for the hurlers — Pat Gilroy’s side played two of their four round-robin games there this summer — the footballers have never played a competitive match in Donnycarney during Jim Gavin’s six years in charge. Indeed, the last Championship match which
the Dublin footballers hosted at Parnell Park was a 2004 All-Ireland qualifier against London, while the last time that they played a match of any consequence at the venue was on March 27, 2010 when Galway, then managed by Joe Kernan, arrived for a Division 1 League match. Dublin lost that day, with Pat Gilroy lamenting his side’s ‘silly’ mistakes afterwards. Since then, Croke Park, for all intents and purposes, has been the home of the Dublin footballers, thanks to the Spring Series, the brainchild of the late county board chairman Andy Kettle. Since meeting Cork in the 2011 League opener under lights in Croker, they have played 40 League matches at headquarters. Their record stands at 32 wins, six defeats and two draws. In the Championship, their record is even more terrifying. They have played 42 Championship games there in that time, won 38, drew two and lost just two — the 2012 All-Ireland semifinal to Mayo and the 2014 AllIreland semi-final to Donegal. Former Donegal manager Jim McGuinness pointed out last week that ‘it is almost inevitable that Dublin will progress from their group if they are given two home games in Croke Park.’ Meanwhile, Michael Murphy believes the format for the Super 8s will ‘take a couple of years to bed in’ and the GAA will ‘take learnings’ from this summer which they ‘will take into next year.’ While Donegal officials will meet with GAA officials to clarify the venues for the Super 8s in the interests of fair play today, Murphy is content for the players to take a back seat. ‘Listen, we’re preparing for Dublin in Croke Park, our first game in the Super 8s. Whatever happens after that is between Croke Park and the powers-that-be. ‘The board and the management are looking for fairness and equality, I suppose. ‘As a group of players, we’ll play anywhere, Croke Park, Clones or Ballybofey, it doesn’t matter.’ Meanwhile, Kieran Donaghy has acknowledged a conflict of interest for some GAA fans after the Kerry-Galway Super 8s was fixed by the GAA to clash with the World Cup final on July 15. ‘They could have tried to figure a way around it, as people like to watch the World Cup final but for Kerry and Galway football people that will be the real game in town for them that day,’ he said. ‘It won’t bother me too much. I’ll be in the zone,’ added Donaghy (above) who insists it ‘wasn’t an easy decision’ to soldier on at 35. ‘Éamonn (Fitzmaurice) wanted me back, which mattered. I was nominated for an All-Star last year, and asked myself could I help the team. As long as I felt the answer was yes, that mattered too. ‘My wife said I made a bit of a deal of it but she always knew I was going to go back playing. I’m really glad I did. There is no rest for the wicked down there for the moment,’ added Donaghy, who feels the young Kerry cubs are bringing much to the Championship table. ‘They’re winners, they’ve won minors and Hogan Cups and are bringing a freshness and energy and confidence to the whole thing, which is great.’ Before playing in the Pro-Am at the Irish Open yesterday, Murphy and Donaghy took part in a target challenge with Shane Lowry and Paul Dunne. Lowry hit the crossbar with both golf ball and Gaelic football.