Next year's Ulster football final will have difficulty in switching to Croke Park should the provincial council decide to use the headquarters venue, as happened in the three years 2004-06.

The 2008 fixture list has scheduled the Ulster and Leinster finals for the same day, and according to provincial secretary Danny Murphy, "it may not be possible to re-arrange the dates even if the council decides it would like to go to Croke Park".

Last year saw the Ulster decider return to Clones for the meeting of Tyrone and Monaghan, but according to Murphy that didn't signal a permanent reversion.

Armagh and Tyrone, who played a draw and replay in Croke Park two years ago, are on the same side of the draw, but Donegal, whose finals against Armagh in 2004 and '06 were played in Dublin, are on the other side, creating the possibility that the additional capacity might be needed.

Tonight the Ulster Council will finalise the field for next year's Ulster hurling championship and may conduct the draw.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that the Dublin investigation into incidents that saw a linesman knocked to the ground after the recent county championship match between St Vincent's and Na Fianna has not yet concluded. Former Dublin player, and chief executive of the Gaelic Players Association, Dessie Farrell, stands suspended for eight weeks for his part in the fracas and his Na Fianna club-mate Pat Coffey received a one-year ban for pushing the match official, Brian O'Shea.

But the identity of an assailant, who is alleged to have struck the linesman, is still not clear. Na Fianna have been asked to identify the individual and the county board awaits a response from the club before the matter can be wrapped up.

The Dublin Competitions Control Committee's decision to recommend the suspensions followed an investigation into the incidents after the championship fixture, won by St Vincent's. Neither Farrell nor Coffey has exercised their right to contest the proposed suspensions in front of a hearings committee.