The Kerry-Cork Munster football final replay is likely to go ahead on the evening of Saturday week in Killarney. Complicating the process was the fact that Sky Sports have the rights to the All-Ireland qualifier slots for the same date and the station usually broadcasts its matches at 5pm and 7pm on Saturdays.
On the advice of the Garda, the Killarney match should be fixed for as late as possible, as traffic problems with the last big match to be staged in the town on a Saturday – the Cork-Tipperary qualifier in 2004 – have made the authorities wary of repeating that arrangement.
RTÉ wish to televise the match but couldn’t do so without the go-ahead from Sky, which would have to re-schedule their 7pm match for 3pm. At the moment the pairings for the All-Ireland football qualifier round 3B aren’t known.
Magnitude
According to a spokesperson for Sky, the station recognises the “magnitude of the occasion” in Killarney and “in the interests of all supporters” is likely to comply with the request.
The qualifier draws for next weekend have also been made. Meath take on Tyrone in Healy Park on Saturday, while on Sunday July 12th Galway will play Armagh in the Athletic Grounds and Fermanagh will take on Roscommon in Brewster Park , which is unusual as the GAA tend to avoid scheduling clashes on that day, given the annual parades and events.
But with the date falling on a Sunday, most of the July 12th events will take place on Saturday and Monday of next weekend.
Semple Stadium in Thurles will have a busy weekend coming up, as the qualifiers between Dublin and Limerick and the re-run of the 2013 All-Ireland final between Clare and Cork will take place on Saturday, with the Tipperary-Waterford Munster final the following day.
Finally, the A and B sides of the All-Ireland football qualifiers’ draw operate as follows: This way of structuring the draw is designed to make the matches easier to organise and to allow teams to take longer breaks between rounds. It operates by alternating the weeks of activity for the teams on either side of the draw.
Template
Which counties go into which side is determined by the provincial councils, who divide their championship draws in half, designating one side ‘A’ and the other, ‘B’. This is done with the empty template of the draw – and before any counties come out of the hat.
For instance, in Ulster this year the preliminary round and the last two quarter-finals in the province are on the ‘B’ side of the qualifiers draw. The first two quarter-finals are designated ‘A’. Similar procedures take place before the other provincial draws – and eventually all counties are classified.
The two disadvantages of the system are lack of balance and the danger of repeat fixtures. This year it is noticeable that the ‘B’ side of the draw is significantly stronger with Tyrone, Armagh and Derry in there, as well as potentially last year’s All-Ireland finalists Donegal and Kerry should they lose their provincial finals.
