CELTIC PARK GETS GREEN LIGHT TO HOST PRO14 FINAL

CELTIC PARK will stage next season’s Guinness Pro14 play-off final.

Sportsmail understands that league organisers have finalised the deal to take their showpiece event to the Glasgow venue. Murrayfield staged the 2015-16 final, when Connacht beat Leinster. A year later, it also hosted the final of the European Champions Cup when Saracens defeated Clermont. The SRU back the plans to bring the Pro14 play-off final back to Scotland but were keen to take it to the west coast in an effort to broaden the appeal of the tournament and acknowledge the growing popularity of rugby in Glasgow. Scotland’s biggest city has good transport links to Ireland and Wales and, with a capacity of 60,832, Celtic’s home ground is certainly big enough to host the final. Meanwhile, Pro14 league organisers are currently ‘working furiously’ to bring forward the kick-off time of this year’s final on Saturday, May 26. The match is scheduled to begin in Dublin at 6.30pm on Sky Sports, just an hour and fifteen minutes before Liverpool and Real Madrid meet in the Champions League final in Kiev. Pro14 chief executive Martin Anayi has been in touch with Sky in a bid to move the kick-off time forward to the afternoon to ensure there is no clash. ‘Can we move the kick-off forward a bit to get the game in before the Champions League final?’ asked Anayi. ‘Can we send everyone then to our fan zones where there are big screens to watch Liverpool against Real Madrid? That is what we are furiously trying to arrange at the moment.’