WHILE DUBLIN are close to agreeing the exact terms and conditions of Pat Gilroy’s future as senior football manager for ratification at next Monday’s county board meeting, the agreeing of dates for next year’s Spring Series is not proving so straightforward.
Provisional league fixtures are currently being considered by all counties ahead of the GAA confirming the 2012 Master Fixture list at the next meeting of Central Council, which is scheduled for Saturday week.
What looks certain at this stage is that the 2012 Allianz Football League will begin with a rematch of the 2011 All-Ireland final, as Dublin are set to host Kerry in Croke Park, under lights, on Saturday, February 4th.
But Dublin have only three home games in next year’s football league, compared to four earlier this year, and only two in hurling (partly because of the new slimmed down Division 1A), and that’s presenting some difficulties in Dublin’s efforts to repeat the successful Spring Series of 2011.
It means the only potential double-headers are Dublin against Armagh in football and Dublin against Cork in hurling (both provisionally fixed for the weekend of March 10th/11th), and Dublin against Donegal in football and Dublin against Tipperary in hurling (both provisionally fixed for the weekend of March 24th/25th).
Ideally, the Dublin-Armagh/Dublin-Cork double-header would also be played under lights, on the Saturday, March 10th, but the Dublin County Board have been told that’s probably not feasible. The problem there is the clash with Ireland’s 2012 Six Nations date against Scotland, which has a 5pm kick-off, at the Aviva Stadium on the same night.
There is the possibility of Dublin switching that double-bill to the Friday evening, March 9th, yet given that Armagh and Cork are the competing counties and the extent of travel involved, that is unlikely to get the approval of Central Council.
GAA director general Páraic Duffy recently suggested as much, and for Friday night games to be approved, the counties involved would need to be neighbours, or at least close by.
What is certain is that the opening weekend of February 4th/5th promises to be a bumper one for sport.
The Dublin-Kerry rematch, assuming it does go ahead on the Saturday night in Croke Park, would be close to a sell-out, and the following afternoon, February 6th, sees Ireland kick-off their 2012 Six Nations campaign with a home game at the Aviva Stadium, against Wales – their conquerors in the World Cup quarter-final.
Interestingly, Kerry are also looking at some league double-headers next year, and for the first time putting their hurlers on the same bill as their footballers.
The two dates being proposed are Sunday March 11th, when the Kerry hurlers will play Carlow as a curtain-raiser to the football meeting with Donegal at Fitzgerald Stadium, and also two weeks later, March 25th, also in Killarney, when Kerry hurlers will take on Down, followed by Kerry’s football meeting with Laois.
Meanwhile, in other managerial news, Séamus McEnaney is the latest manager to look to athletics for inspiration, as he’s added well-known sprint coach Seán Cahill to his backroom team with the Meath footballers.
A native of Skryne, Cahill in fact played a similar role in Meath early in the Seán Boylan era, although in more recent years has worked solely with athletes, most famously with two-time European sprint hurdler silver medallist Derval O’Rourke, and also Ireland’s fastest woman Ailis McSweeney.
In other news, Eoin Larkin has been nominated by his club, James Stephens, as the Kilkenny senior hurling captain for 2012.
