Weather plunges GAA into fresh fixture crisis

THE GAA is facing a fixture crisis after extreme weather conditions wreaked havoc to its schedule, which sees the Allianz Hurling League final set to be moved back to April. Hopes that today’s Bank Holiday would see the GAA catch up on a raft of fixtures — 10 in total across both codes were lost to bad weather yesterday — were thrown into chaos last night, when two of the scheduled Allianz Hurling League quarter-finals bit the dust. It was deemed yesterday evening that the pitch at Innovate Wexford Park would not be fit to host Wexford and Galway, while Dublin v Tipperary was also confirmed to be off. The other two quarter-finals, Li me rickv Clare and O ff alyv Kilkenny will only proceed if they get the green light after pitch inspections. The conclusion of the Hurling League has already been moved back a week to March 31 as a result of the havoc generated by Storm Emma. But the Central Competitions Control Committee, who will not meet until tomorrow, are almost certain to bow to the inevitable and reschedule the hurling final for the weekend of April 7/8. However, the only way that situation can now be avoided, with the semi-finals

due to take place this weekend, is for Galway’s game with Davy Fitzgerald’s (left) Wexford to be rescheduled for the middle of this week. However, outside of the logistical challenges involved regarding players’ work and study commitments, if the CCCC go down that route it would be accused of undermining an Allianz League programme which some critics believe is already too condensed. Division 2 of the Football League has also been thrown into chaos by the latest disruption. While the postponed Louth-Meath relegation clash will proceed at Drogheda today if the Gaelic Grounds is deemed playable, the outstanding Down-Tipperary game is set to pose the CCCC with a significant headache. That game could not be rescheduled for today as it is not a Bank Holiday in the Six Counties, leaving the GAA in a bind. The final round of Division 2 is scheduled to take place this weekend when all outstanding promotion and relegation issues will be resolved, and it is understood that the CCCC is determined to proceed with the full programme. However, Tipperary are very much involved in the promotion race, while Down are involved in a battle to stay up. It would be undesirable for the Tipperary-Down game to be pushed back as a stand-alone fixture to the weekend of March 31/ April 1, as it could have a bearing on promotion or relegation issues. The CCCC have already gone down that route to address the backlog of fixtures in Division 4, but their hands were tied in amending the schedule because counties had already pre-booked and pre-paid to fly to London. No such restriction applies here, but there are logistical difficulties in getting the Down- Tipperary game played prior to this weekend. The distance between the counties, commitments of players and Down’s reluctance to conceded home advantage are all likely to negate a midweek re-fixture. The end result is that after committing to setting April aside exclusively for club action, three finals, the hurling final, as well as the Division 2 and four football finals could now be played on the weekend of April 7/8.