RTE and the GAA are on a collision course in relation to this summer's television schedules. Preliminary meetings have indicated that problems will arise because Connacht is unhappy with the broadcaster's suggestion that they will cover only one match in the province, the football final on July 30th, and also because of RTE's extremely busy sports schedule this year, which apparently has led them to suggest that some matches be played on Monday.

Croke Park has circulated RTE's proposed schedule to the provincial council secretaries and they will be discussed before the parties meet again. Yesterday Connacht secretary John Prenty expressed dissatisfaction with this schedule.

"The live broadcast of matches gives a bit of a profile to our championship and we wouldn't be happy with only one match receiving coverage. When the provinces meet, we agree as far as possible to spread out the coverage and there would be a consensus that at least two matches should be covered in each championship."

Prenty's argument stands up. Mayo and Sligo will meet in a re-run of the 1997 Connacht final and the winners take on 1998 All-Ireland winners Galway in the semifinal. The latter match falls on the same day as the Leinster hurling final, which is guaranteed coverage.

Last weekend's Sunday Tribune disclosed that the idea of playing matches on a Monday had been put forward by RTE. Whereas Leinster secretary Michael Delaney had expressed some support for the proposal, this found few echoes elsewhere.

The idea is partly based on RTE's scheduling which includes The Game on Mon- day, a highlights programme. This would be more attractive if it featured a live match as its centrepiece.

RTE's suggestion is also influenced by the difficulties they will experience trying to accommodate all the sports items in their schedule. For instance, July 2nd sees the following major events taking place: the Munster hurling final, the final day of the Irish Open golf in Ballybunion, the Irish Derby at the Curragh and the final of the Euro 2000 soccer championship.

Michael Delaney has expanded on his support for the RTE proposal. "The idea was thrown up. I don't know how serious it is but I gave my reaction to the whole notion of weekday matches. I think a lot depends on distance. You might, for example, put on something like Laois and Westmeath in Tullamore on a weekday night and still get a good crowd. But other counties could be too far apart to make even a neutral venue practical and with the big crowds at say, Dublin and Meath, I don't think the guards would be too happy at that going ahead on a weeknight."

Other responses have been negative. Danny Murphy, acting secretary of the Ulster Council, declined to take a view of the proposal prior to it being discussed but indicated that it was unlikely to find favour. "Our championship draw was made some months ago and all games are to be played on a Sunday."

He said that it had been on only "very rare occasions" that a draw had been deviated from, and then only with Saturday games.

The Ulster Council have the advantage that they have been able to exploit the presence of UTV and BBC Northern Ireland to secure their own deal. There has been no serious friction between these interests and RTE so far but the start of comprehensive live broadcasts coincided with the decline of Ulster's football fortunes, and consequently the provincial championship hasn't been as attractive as would have been the case over five years ago.

Prenty was more forceful about the prospect of playing matches on a Monday. "Whatever about Saturday or Friday evenings, I can't see Monday being a runner in any of the provinces. First there's the distances involved. Look at the county players involved. A lot of fellas in the west work in Dublin. There's enough hassle getting them back for training and matches at the weekend.

"For them to have to travel to a game on a Monday, they'd have to take time off work and head back at all hours of the night. If this is going to be looked at, Friday would be the day."

Meanwhile, Dublin have named their team for the first defence of the O'Byrne Cup, this Sunday in Longford. Tom Carr sticks largely with the team which recorded an easy win over the Blue Stars on New Year's weekend. Conan Goggins of St John's comes in at right wing back for his competitive debut.

DUBLIN (SF v Longford) - C Boyle; M Cahill, B O'Toole, D Moore; C Goggins, I Clarke, T Lynch; J McGee, E Horgan; E Crennan, M Casey, S Connell; J Sherlock, E Sheehy, B O'Brien.