Leinster and Galway face showdown over finance

Provincial council insist Tribesmen enjoy same deal as other counties for round-robin

SENIOR officials from the Leinster Council and the Galway County Board are to meet later this month in an effort to sort out financial differences which have arisen over the senior hurling championship.

It comes after criticisms at the Galway county convention of the arrangements for the Tribesmen’s participation in the Leinster campaign.

Galway treasurer Michael Burke said they needed to get a bigger share of the financial take after it was revealed that they received 15 per cent of the gross gate receipts for the Leinster ‘round robin’ games against Kilkenny and Dublin in Pearse Stadium last year.

Commenting that Galway were “keeping the Leinster hurling championship going,” Burke said that they would “have to sit down with Leinster and get a fair deal from them.”

Leinster CEO Michael Reynolds said that Leinster would be happy to meet Galway but declined to comment on whether a new financial deal was likely to be struck.

“All I can say is that Galway got exactly the same amount (15 per cent of gate receipts) as all the other counties that hosted Leinster Championship games,” he said.

Last year was Galway’s tenth season in the Leinster SHC, but the first time they hosted any games. Prior to that they had to cross the Shannon for all their games. Galway will host Carlow and Wexford in this year’s Leinster Championship.

Meanwhile, the Bord na Móna O’Byrne Cup has received a big boost, with the final in Parnell Park being shown live on TG4 tomorrow week (8.0). It will feature Dublin or Meath v Longford or Westmeath.