The GAA has warned that the Hill 16 terrace may not be available for Saturday's All-Ireland qualifier double bill at Croke Park. Yesterday's bad weather has caused a delay in the dismantling of the stage used for Sunday's closing ceremony of the Special Olympics. Seán Moran reports
"It transpired in the course of the day that despite assurances and expectations from Special Olympics organisers, strong winds have led to a delay in the deconstruction of the stage on the terrace," ran the statement released by Croke Park last night.
Nonetheless the GAA said they had ordered the printing of tickets for the terrace in the hope that it would be available for Saturday.
Both the Dublin-Armagh and Tipperary-Donegal matches are scheduled for Croke Park and it would be a particular vexation for Dublin supporters whose last trip to Croke Park also saw the Hill closed as construction was under way on the stage for the Special Olympics opening ceremony six days after Dublin's Leinster semi-final defeat by Laois.
Last night's statement said the situation would be monitored. It also expressed satisfaction with the state of the playing surface after Sunday's closing ceremony.
Saturday matches will be all-ticket. In the event of the Hill being unavailable, the capacity will be 70,000.
Originally the matches had been fixed for 4.30 (Tipperary-Donegal) and 6.15 (Dublin-Armagh) but after the intervention of the Garda, the starting times were brought forward to 2.15 and 4.15, respectively.
On the injury front, Dublin are awaiting news on centrefielder Darren Homan, whose shoulder injury - picked up in last weekend's qualifier win over Derry - was X-rayed yesterday. Results will be available today.
Armagh have a "clean bill of health", according to manager Joe Kernan and will name their team tonight. The All-Ireland champions aren't fazed by the draw. "If we'd sat down on Sunday evening myself and Tommy (Lyons, Dublin manager) would have preferred to avoid each other but it's great to get to Croke Park for a big match and our supporters will enjoy that.
"Realistically there are only five or six counties that are going to win an All-Ireland. I'd like to think we're one and Dublin would be another. You don't know where you're going until you play in games like this. If we can win this it will kick-start our season. And that's what it will be about. Getting a result. Grinding it out."
Details of the other qualifier fixtures were also announced yesterday. Offaly will face Roscommon in Cusack Park, Mullingar at 7.00 on Saturday evening. The match will be all-ticket. Meath will play Fermanagh in Clones on Sunday. Admission to the Gerry Arthurs Stand will be by ticket only.
