Armagh and Galway not allowed to play their quarter final in Croke Park

[balladmaker]

If any team is to give up their quarter final in Croker, surely it should be Dublin i.e. the quarters should be at 'neutral' venues and the Dubs already have had enough experience of the big day in Croker this year already.

And don't be telling me Croke Park is neutral for Dublin.....send them packing for the day.

[Dont Matter]

dublin are playing a double header on the 9th.  thats a fact.

It's Dublin we're talking about. Something will be done so they get Croke park to themselves but if not the ticket allocation mentioned for a double header should be more than enough to accommodate the real Dub supporters. 15,000 was it? Just get rid of the scum on the hill and that will be plenty.

[Zulu]

why don't you educate yourselves on the facts of the situation before you come on here as a fountain of knowledge. The dublin managment have kiboshed the 16th because it leaves them 4 weeks wiithout a game and gives their likely opponents a 2 week gap. Thats a perfectly reasonable assumption from a preparation pt of view and one that Dublin fans are happy with. Dublin aren't dictating anything and have known since tuesday it would be likely to be a stand alone game
Cork have been allowed dictate matters. Offaly  fans were asked to be in semple stadium against waterford to watch their hurlers and 90 mins later to be in tullamore to watch their footballers on the same day. No-one gave a shite about them, because they are a small county So this argument that Cork should be allowed dictate fixtures because of distance is bullshit. Cork are the worst travelling Gaa fans in the country in my view. If you put both games on Washington Street half of them still wouldn't turn up. It happens to other counties all the time and they don't whinge about it. This is Frank Murphy's agenda and another indciation that if you've got the right friends in the Gaa you can get anything changed. Its a farce that all 4 provincial winners won't get to play in Croke park to suit one county.
99% of Cork hurling fans don't go to watch their footballers, that is a statistical fact and one that won;t change by having both games in croke park. just wait till throw in time sunday week in the football match and see how many cork fans are their. F*** all would be my guess.

You are well off the mark with that post Indiana, Cork have a great travelling support for their hurlers and the bulk of their football support have a serious distance to travel to Dublin so it isn't a great surprise that they aren't flocking to support an underachieving team. And it isn't a statistical fact that 99% of the Cork hurling support don't support the footballers it isn't any kind of a fact, what it is is a gross exaggeration and is actually wrong. And two years ago Cork footballers had to play Saturday in CP and the hurlers on Sunday which was extremely tough and expensive on their supporters so the GAA don't pander to the bigger counties. Cork are only trying to accomodate their supporters and IMO both Cork and Dublin should be accomodated. If Cork footballers double up with their hurlers on Sunday you could have one stand alone QF (for the Dubs) and one double header on Aud 9th and 16th and everyone is happy. This shouldn't be a drama if the GAA orgainised these games well in advance but that is asking too much apparently.

[PatDaly]

So its becoming very clear that Dublin will have to play their quarter-final in Croke Park on Saturday August 9th along with one other quarter-final. Cork footballers (and the Cork hurlers) will then play their quarter-final in Croke Park on Sunday August 10th. This leaves one quarter-final not accounted for. One of either Galway or Armagh won't as things currently stand be playing in Croke Park. Anyone know the story here?

[armaghniac]

Cork footballers (and the Cork hurlers) will then play their quarter-final in Croke Park on Sunday August 10th.

This is the only certain thing.

The possibilities for the other games partly depend on whether Kerry win and who they play. Kerry v Galway could be set for Limerick as a large convenient venue. Kerry v Dublin could be in Thurles, this solves the ticket problem. Kerry v Armagh would probably be in Croke Pk. Kerry can't play Cork.

If Kerry don't win, it increases the likelihood of Armagh drawing Ulster opposition and ending up in Clones, allowing Galway play against Leinster or Ulster opposition in Croke Pk.

But if you end up with Armagh v Mayo and Galway v Monaghan or Down then where would you play? The GAA have made a stick for themselves.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

Lets get a couple of misconceptions out of the way first....

1 - It has been known since last year when the championship draw came out that the 4 provincial winners wouldn't be playing in Croke Park so why weren't the complaints made then?
2 - There is no rule anywhere that the qtr-finals have to be in Croke Park at all.
3 - There is no reason the qtr-finals should be at neutral venues either (give the provincial winners an advantage as they deserve it)...
4 - By playing the double header for Cork they are getting an extra football qtr-final in Croke Park so why the complaining about it?

Why do people think that transferring a Dublin v's Kerry match to Thurles is fair to Dublin - moving a qualifier for the provincial champion down to the province of the qualifying team? Thats like saying play a Galway Tyrone match in Clones or an Armagh Mayo match in Tuam - it just doesn't work that way...

[ringy]

where are people getting the notions Cork are dictating things.Kilkenny versus qualifier(Cork) was always fixed for the 10th and the footballers the 9th.Common sense would see the Cork football game moved to the Sunday as part of a double header,jesus its a no-brainer really. The joys of being a dual, lucky for some eh?

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Thats like saying play a Galway Tyrone match in Clones or an Armagh Mayo match in Tuam - it just doesn't work that way...

Neither of those venues you named would be even close to halfway between the relevant counties. But then you weren't looking for a reasonable solution, you were just desperately searching for something to back up your feeble argument.

As it happens Thurles is much closer to Dublin than it is to Killarney.

Common sense would see the Cork football game moved to the Sunday as part of a double header,jesus its a no-brainer really. The joys of being a dual, lucky for some eh?

Agreed - first decent decision Corkmen have made all year!

[DUBSFORSAM1]

Thats like saying play a Galway Tyrone match in Clones or an Armagh Mayo match in Tuam - it just doesn't work that way...

Neither of those venues you named would be even close to halfway between the relevant counties. But then you weren't looking for a reasonable solution, you were just desperately searching for something to back up your feeble argument.

As it happens Thurles is much closer to Dublin than it is to Killarney.

So you think it is right to move the Provincial champions out of their own province to play a qualifier team in their own province???

[Hound]

Anyone who thinks the Leinster football champions would play their quarter final outside Croker is just an eejit on the wind up- don't be taken in.

I'm a bit surprised that Galway and Armagh strongly prefer Croker to their own province - its not like they need the Croker experience, but if they do the GAA should try and accomodate them if possible. It is ridiculous that its only come up as an issue now given the fixtrs were set months ago.

[maddog]

"As it happens Thurles is much closer to Dublin than it is to Killarney."

There is only about 20 miles difference in fairness

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Anyone who thinks the Leinster football champions would play their quarter final outside Croker is just an eejit on the wind up- don't be taken in.

Dublin played Kerry in Thurles in 2001 Hound. And there's absolutely nothing to say that provincial champions should have any advantage when it comes to scheduling.

[INDIANA]

zulu i lived in cork for a while through work, and the hurling  fans didn't watch the footballers. there attitude to football was that it was agame that only bad hurlers played. That is what they said to me directly. Cork have a minimal travelling support for their football team and there isn't a lot of crossover. I don;t see ay necessity to accomodate cork on this matter. Offaly have far more crossover in their support and no effort was made to accomodate them. I spent long enough down there to know that hurling is king in cork. and bar west cork they don't have any real support down there. and holding them on the same day won't make  a blind bit of difference on sunday week.

[Maguire01]

If Cork want a double-header, should they not be forced to also share it with a third game? There are 3 games on today and tomorrow in Croker - surely there'd be room for a third game on the day or Cork's games. One game at 1 o'clock, another at 3 and another at 5.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

AFS - Croke Park was free at most for 2 football games on the 9th and that has been known since before the championship even started without any complaints about it. Are you advocating that matches should be moved to limit to amount of people who attend the games? Why should Dublin who are the Leinster champions be moved out of the province to play their qtr-final? Why can't Armagh/Galway play their qtr-finals in their own provinces ie Tuam/Clones and there will be still more tickets for them than playing a Double header with Dublin.

Dublin are just insisting on playing on the dates that are in the fixture listing as to when they are playing - what is wrong with that?