Donegal take fight to Croker
venues for the All-ireland quarter-final group stage (Super 8s) games CLG Dhún na ngall are to seek a meeting with GAA officials to seek clarification on how any county may use a ground as both neutral and a home venue.
“The intention of the meeting is to ensure a level playing field for every team who will qualify for the All-ireland quarterfinal group stage and ensure that no team has any advantage over any other team.”
There have been calls for the game to be played in a more neutral venue such as Clones but the CCCC resisted that when fixing it and, in any event, appear to be bound by the rules at this stage of the Championship which state that each team will play a game at Croke Park and then one each at home and away.
Donegal’s unwillingness to accept the venue may well be influenced to some degree by Kildare’s successful ‘Newbridge or nowhere’ campaign last week. Their qualifier against Mayo was moved back to their home ground and they won the game.
Last week Donegal managed Declan Bonner told Newstalk: “If someone said the game was going to be played at a neutral venue, then you would expect somewhere like Clones, like Cavan, a neutral venue, not going into Dublin’s back-yard to play a match that is a so-called neutral match.”
Meanwhile, the Kerrygalway game has been fixed for Sunday week at Croke Park with a 4pm throw-in, clashing directly with the World Cup final.