Silke and Molloy face club/college conundrum

LIAM SILKE and Kieran Molloy could be forced to choose between club and college on Saturday week unless a fixtures compromise can be found in the coming days, WRITES COLM KEYS.

UCD’s Sigerson Cup semi-final is scheduled for Mallow on Saturday week against NUIG, the same day that their club Corofin meet Gaoth Dobhair in the All-Ireland club semifinal in Carrick-on-Shannon. Ways to find a compromise are being examined.

The dilemma mirrors last year when Corofin met Moorefield in Tullamore in the All-Ireland semi-final which overlapped with the start of the Sigerson Cup final in Santry.

At the final whistle in Tullamore, with his team safely in the All-Ireland club final, Molloy was transported the 100 kilometres in a Garda car, joining his NUIG team-mates in the second half of their Sigerson Cup final defeat to UCD. Silke did not travel to link up with UCD because of an injury picked up in the club semi-final. The distance between Carrick-on-Shannon and Mallow doesn’t allow for any sameday compromise this time.

The clash comes as a consequence of the new calendar that aims to conclude the group stages of the Allianz Leagues by the end of March and has left both the league and the third-level competitions on a much tighter schedule.