Ballyhale agree to play in Tullamore

THE LEINSTER club hurling final has been switched from Portlaoise on Sunday to Tullamore. This was decided at last night’s meeting of the provincial council to facilitate the re-fixing of the abandoned football semi-final between Portlaoise and Clara for Saturday at 2.15pm.

As a result, defending champions Ballyhale Shamrocks from Kilkenny will concede home advantage to their Offaly counterparts Tullamore. Throw-in is 2.15pm.

A spokesperson for the provincial council was at pains to point out that Ballyhale had agreed with the decision.

Last Sunday’s football semi-final was whistled up by referee Joe Curley three minutes into the second half after torrential rain had left the pitch unsafe for the players.

The Leinster Council also announced that spectators will be admitted to the refixture free of charge. And they also stipulated that, due to the similarity of colours, both clubs should wear county jerseys.

The winners will face Westmeath’s Garrycastle in the final on Sunday week, December 6th.

In the west, the Connacht football final between Corofin and Charlestown, postponed because of the weather last weekend, will go ahead next Sunday at the same venue in Charlestown.

The heavy rains have also affected the controversy in Clare, where the county hurlers are refusing to play for manager Michael McNamara.

According to county board sources, the weather has hampered plans for an important meeting between the three parties, with movement around Killaloe and Clonlara in the east of the county rendered nearly impossible. It has yet to be confirmed when the talks will take place.

County chair Michael O’Neill has been liaising in recent weeks to try to find a way around the impasse. Meetings between players and officials to ascertain details of the panel’s issues with the manager have taken place, but the important meeting between all three parties, players, officials and manager, has yet to be scheduled.

Speculation continues to link a host of well-known names with any potential vacancy, but Cyril Lyons and John Minogue, of this year’s All-Ireland under-21 winning management, Sparrow O’Loughlin, Seán McMahon and Colin Lynch – all of whom have been linked with the position – are unlikely to indicate any interest until the stand-off has been resolved.

Finally, the parallel stand-off in Limerick between hurling manager Justin McCarthy and the 2009 panel of players, which has seen seven of them walk away in the past few weeks, intensified at the weekend with news that 2007 All Star goalkeeper Brian Murray has become the latest of the senior hurlers to withdraw from inter-county activity.