Carlow will decide tonight whether to fulfil their National Hurling League fixtures against Down and Armagh. The uncertainty arises from the county's reservations about travelling to counties touched by the north Louth foot-and-mouth exclusion zone. At Saturday's Central Council meeting, the county intimated it was reluctant to play the matches.

"What we said was that we had problems with the Louth, Armagh and Down fixtures," says county secretary Tom O'Neill. "Now the Louth fixture is gone but within the county there's a lot of fear about foot-and-mouth. That's why we were asking Central Council about the rules for not playing matches and why we indicated we may well opt out of it."

GAA president Sean McCague said that counties who decline to play matches would forfeit the points but would not suffer further punishment. Carlow are due to travel to Down this weekend when the National Hurling League resumes. A part of south Down is in the exclusion zone. Carlow are also scheduled to host Armagh, the other county affected by the exclusion zone, on Sunday week. O'Neill says both matches will be discussed tonight.

"The reluctance is widespread within the county," he says. "We haven't gone into precise detail but people are trying to do their best in what is a farming county. For a team to travel, other features might take over and we wouldn't want to be the cause of farms in the county being put under investigation or cordoned off.

"We've the greatest of sympathy for counties affected but there's a strong feeling about it here. Hurling is very rural in Carlow."

Already, the Carlow town 11a-side tournament, scheduled for the first weekend in May, has been called off. The county board will discuss the National Hurling League fixtures with the Department of Agriculture before tonight's meeting. "We have had contact with them in relation to local games," says O'Neill, "but not in relation to travelling. But if we went to Down, the route would take us right through the exclusion zone. We would normally stop in the Carrickdale Hotel in Ravensdale which is right in the middle of it. We would be talking to the Department locally if the Armagh game was to go ahead because they'd be coming here."

On the same topic, there is some confusion over the eligibility of players within the exclusion zone. Saturday's Central Council meeting ordained that such players would not be allowed train with their county teams until the 30-day quarantine period had passed. It is not clear how many players are covered by that provision. Down's Micheal Magill is from Warrenpoint, within the exclusion zone, and he is definitely out but other players whose clubs are within the restricted area but who live elsewhere are in an anomalous situation.

In response to a query from Comhairle Ard Oideachais delegate Eugene McKenna on Saturday, Sean McCague said the prohibition on players extended to players from within the exclusion zone who were members of their colleges' Sigerson Cup panels. But the question of whether residence makes any difference to this blanket prohibition has not been settled. According to a Croke Park spokesperson: "The GAA is liaising with the Department of Agriculture and Ulster secretary Danny Murphy has been speaking to the counties involved but the position is not as yet clear."

The question of what happens to Louth's results in the National League to date will not be decided for a couple of weeks. This and the matter of how to accommodate the county should it end up in the relegation zone because of missed fixtures will be resolved by the GAA's Management Committee at its next meeting, scheduled for the weekend of the annual congress at the beginning of next month.

Louth's football fixtures are of wider interest given that the county is in the first division. Both their remaining matches have extra significance as Tyrone are on course for the play-offs and Dublin are in the relegation zone.

Cork and Kerry will meet on Saturday in the Munster Under21 football championship semifinals in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, while across in Mitchelstown, Limerick take on Tipperary. The throw in for both games is at 3.30 p.m. and there will be extra-time if required.