Opinions are sharply divided over whether the Railway Cup should be dropped following very poor attendances at Sunday's football semi-finals in Belfast and Castlebar.
No more than 2,000 supporters in total attended the matches, and the gate receipts are certain to have fallen well short of the costs of the operation.
The secretary of the Leinster Council, Michael Delaney, firmly believes the competition should be abandoned and the money better spent.
"I reckon that our match in Belfast cost us in the region of £10,000," Delaney said. "That is a very high figure for one match. We had travel expenses, overnight expenses, food and playing gear all to pay for. "I am convinced that this money could be spent in a much more productive way on coaching or other activities." He points out that, for last November's Railway Cup hurling contest between Leinster and Connacht, 13 Leinster players selected in a panel of 25 dropped out for a variety of reasons.
"Some had club commitments within the next week or so and wanted to avoid injury, others were on holiday and others simply didn't want to play.
"I don't think that there is any real commitment to the competition. A committee was set up a few years ago to examine the situation but, as a far as I know, it met only once or twice and no recommendation was made.
"I wasn't in Casement Park on Sunday but I am told that there were no more than two or three people on the terraces for the match," Delaney said. "That doesn't provide a very good image for the GAA. I know that the weather was very bad, but that doesn't explain the fact that the general GAA public has, to a large extent, lost interest."
Delaney's counterpart in Connacht, Sean Prenty, is much more positive. "If you were in the Connacht dressing-room in Castlebar on Sunday you would realise that players still love to represent their province. "The players were very excited and I believe that we will have a crowd of 5,000 or more in Markievicz Park in Sligo next Sunday for the final against Ulster.
"When you think about it," Prenty continued, "attendances at many other sporting events last Sunday were poor because of the weather. Our players were very committed and we had a training session on Saturday and a good result on the pitch in spite of the weather," he said. In Munster, the provincial secretary, Donie Nealon, shared Prenty's views.
"The Railway Cups in hurling and football are one of the only chances some players have of playing representative sport.
"Maybe we will have to look at the matter again and decide on dates. This is not the best time of the year for the competitions, but we can look at that again. I would certainly be against the idea to drop them altogether," he said.
A source close to the Ulster Council also felt that his province would be in favour of continuation. "There is a very positive attitude in Ulster, and some years ago Ulster dominated the football and players were very anxious to play and represent the province. Big attendances turned up in Clones for matches on more than one occasion," he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Connacht have made only one change from the team which beat Munster for the final in Markievicz Park on Sunday. Seamus Quinn of Leitrim, who played a significant part in the defeat of Munster, is ruled out because of a delayed suspension and will be replaced by Gary Fahy of Galway.
Ulster will also be short some players. Anthony Tohill of Derry broke a finger in the semi-final against Leinster and will be out of the game for at least six weeks. Dermot McCabe of Cavan is suspended. The team will be selected later in the week.
CONNACHT (SF v Ulster): P Burke (Mayo); K Mortimore (Mayo), G Fahy (Galway), D Gavin (Roscommon); D Heaney (Mayo), J Divilly (Galway), M Ryan (Roscommon); P Fallon (Mayo), S O Domhnaill (Galway); J Fallon (Galway), D Duggan (Roscommon), E O'Hara (Sligo, capt); D Sloyan (Sligo), P Joyce (Galway), N Finnegan (Galway). Subs: D Thompson (Roscommon), N Clancy (Sligo), A Higgins (Mayo), D Donlon (Roscommon), F O'Donnell (Roscommon), A Cullen (Galway), K O'Neill (Mayo), S Davey (Sligo).
