Saturday's All-Ireland hurling semi-final replay between Wexford and Tipperary will now begin at 5.00 p.m., the GAA announced yesterday.

"Part of our reasoning was to make it easier on the residents," said the association's PRO, Danny Lynch. "The throw-in will be around tea-time and as such, will not affect day-to-day business. And we won't be having any curtain-raiser."

Lynch also commented on the weekend's protests by local residents over the staging of Saturday matches at the venue. Those protests preceded the Meath-Westmeath replay and were staged before the Tipp-Wexford match ended in a draw that will also be replayed on a Saturday.

"In our agreement with the residents the proviso they signed up to was we wouldn't set matches for a Saturday except when it just wasn't feasible to hold them anywhere else. All-Ireland matches drawn at Croke Park, with hardly any exception are replayed at Croke Park," said Lynch.

Three years ago Clare and Offaly played their All-Ireland semi-final replay in Thurles but apart from that, all semi-finals have been played in Croke Park since the 1990s. The only other ground capable of taking Sunday's crowd of over 50,000 would be Thurles but as Tipperary's home ground it could obviously not be considered.

Lynch also confirmed no players had been dope-tested after Sunday's semi-final. It was announced last week that the Irish Sports Council had concluded an agreement to initiate testing in Gaelic games, starting with the All-Ireland semi-finals.

But the announcement gave no hint as to when the first players would be tested.

Meanwhile, indications are Dublin football manager Tom Carr may stay on for a further year. Although he has made no public statement in the wake of Saturday's All-Ireland quarter-final replay defeat by Kerry, the feeling among a number of players is he will give it one more shot.

County chairman John Bailey confirmed he expected Carr to remain for the balance of his two-year appointment. "There is no county board meeting until the first Monday in September and as far as I'm concerned nothing is at issue. There was nothing more Tommy could have done on Saturday."

Carr has completed his fourth championship in the hot seat and must now face the Games Administration Committee charge he faces for confronting referee Michael Curley in the drawn match with Kerry and pushing away a linesman.

Kilkenny hurlers received a fillip ahead of Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final against Galway when corner forward Charlie Carter was presented with the Eircell GAA Player of the Month Award for July 2001.

Carter was honoured for his display in last month's Leinster final against Wexford. Although Kilkenny won easily, his contribution was deeply impressive: seven points from eight shots on target - the only blank coming from a fine save by Damien Fitzhenry - constituted a career best in championship hurling.

This came within weeks of Carter's six from six tally in the provincial semi-final defeat of Offaly and emphasised the Gowran man's remarkable championship form after a spring League campaign in which he never seemed in the best of humour - a fact acknowledged by the player after the Leinster final.

"I suppose a few of you thought I was gone. Sure I was only hiding for a while. I'd be small in stature and I wouldn't be one for mixing it on heavy pitches. I like the top of the ground and the fast ball. 'Horses for courses', as the man says."

Sunday's opponents are expected to release a team tomorrow. According to manager Noel Lane, he will have a full pick. "Darren Shaughnessy has a dodgy knee. (Cathal) Moore and (Alan) Kerins both have shoulder injuries and Rabbo (Joe Rabbitte) has a broken finger but that won't stop him. None of them are serious."

Members of the Sligo team that progressed to the qualifying stages of the All-Ireland football championship were given a civic reception by Sligo County Council last weekend.

The reception was hosted by council chairman Tony McLaughlin, who presented manager Peter Ford with a piece of Cavan crystal for his achievements with the team.

The former Mayo player guided Sligo to the county's first-ever win at Croke Park with victory over Kildare and brought them to the semi-final stage of the National League for the first time since 1974.