THE RIGHT CALL

Crisis meetings will finally end Miller impasse

A SPECIAL Central Council meeting tomorrow morning is expected to ratify a proposal that will see Páirc Uí Chaoimh host the Liam Miller tribute match.

Central Council delegates were informed yesterday that they must convene for a special one-issue meeting in Croke Park at 10am tomorrow to deal with the impasse which has engulfed the GAA.

That Central Council meeting is expected to be preceded by a meeting tonight of the GAA’s powerful management committee, which is likely to recommend that Central Council gives the green light for the soccer match between Manchester United legends and Ireland/Celtic on September 25.

Central Council hold the power to bypass the GAA’s rule book under a stipulation that its facilities can be used for ‘such other purposes it considers not to be in conflict with the aims of the Association’.

And it is also understood that a Croke Park delegation headed by GAA president John Horan and director general Tom Ryan will meet for the

second time inside 72 hours with members of the Liam Miller Testimonial Group. If Central Council approve the recommendation that the match goes ahead — the first soccer game to be played at a GAA venue outside of Croke Park — it will represent a dramatic U-turn.

Last week, the GAA had declared in an official statement that the match could not proceed at Páirc Uí Chaoimh because it was in breach of its rule book, but it was forced into a rethink after coming under political pressure from government.

Sports and Tourism Minister Shane Ross was the latest to wade into the controversy yesterday, when he informed Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ Radio One that he had told GAA president Horan that he wants ‘an early solution’ to the impasse.

And it is expected that, provided there is no last-minute hitch at today’s meeting between the GAA and the event organisers, Central Council will give it the green light.

‘There is very little doubt a big majority will vote in favour of it taking place there,’ one Central Council delegate told Sportsmail last night.