Sligo will have to do without the suspended Mark Cosgrave for the Allianz Football League semi-final against Galway at Hyde Park. Cosgrave's eight-week suspension runs out at midnight on the day of the match but the Games Administration Committee felt they could not reduce the suspension as there was no way in rule to do so.

He would have been available had the match not been somewhat unusually scheduled for Saturday.

"We've been beaten by six hours," said county PRO Fr Liam Devine. "Had it been played on Sunday, he'd have been alright." Ken Killeen will, however, be available after serving his suspension.

Meanwhile Sean O Laoire, the secretary of the GAC, said yesterday that the committee had no choice but to split the semi-finals. "Our first priority was not to have people travel long distances and with four Connacht teams in the semi-finals, it was obvious we should stage the matches there.

"The ideal situation would have been a double bill but with building work going on in both Hyde Park and Castlebar, there were no venues which could have accommodated the two matches."

TG4 has announced that it will be broadcasting both semi-finals live at the weekend as a continuation of its coverage of the leagues. This has been a good week for the Irish language station which shares the domestic rights to GAA fixtures with RTE.

On Monday it screened its first All-Ireland club finals and secured its highest ever audience for an Irish language programme. The average number of people watching at any stage over the four-hour programme was 120,000.

Meanwhile, team captain Daragh Ryan returns following injury for Wexford's hurling league game with Kilkenny at Nowlan Park on Sunday. Rod Guiney, who suffered the recurrence of a hamstring injury in a club game at the weekend, makes way for Ryan.