The Leinster Council last night decided to scrap the roundrobin section of the provincial hurling championship as a result of the fixture clash with the refixed rounds of the National Hurling League.
Six of the so-called weaker counties were due to be divided into two groups and play on April 8th, 22nd and 29th, but instead they will now play on a knock-out basis. On April 15th, Wicklow will face Kildare and Carlow will play Westmeath. The respective winners will play Meath and Laois on April 29th.
The remaining two teams will then meet on May 7th for the right to play Dublin in the first round of the championship proper on May 20th. "The change means that some games in Division Two of the league will also need to be altered," said Leinster council secretary Michael Delaney, "but the GAC are willing to facilitate us on that. It was a decision which no one wanted to but did agree was necessary under the circumstances." The GAC also met last night to finalise the remaining fixtures in the hurling league, as well as to decide the period of suspension for Dublin's Jason Sherlock. Details will be released this morning.
Although it will be another weekend before the intercounty GAA programme resumes in full after the foot-and-mouth restrictions, there will be at least some return to normality this weekend.
Three of the Sigerson Cup quarter-finals have been refixed for Saturday, with Clones the venue for the meeting between St Mary's, Belfast and Trinity College as well as UU Jordanstown and NUI Galway.
The main concern for Jordanstown is the injury to captain Jim McGuinness. A former Sigerson winner with IT Tralee, he recently suffered a broken thumb during training and is almost certain to miss the game.
St Mary's also have an injury worry over their captain Kieran Gourley, and they will definitely be without Shane Lennon.
UCC and Athlone IT also meet on Saturday in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, while the remaining quarter-final between Sligo IT and UCD is set for Sligo next Tuesday.
The semi-finals have been fixed for Wednesday April 4th (venues to be decided), and the final for the following Wednesday. Elsewhere, the refixed Offaly senior hurling final for the year 2000 is set for a near-capacity attendance in Birr on Sunday.
The match fell victim to the foot-and-mouth scare earlier this month, but it has now become the hurling highlight for the weekend.
Part of the attraction is that Joe Dooley, now aged 37, may have his final competitive game. He lines out with Seir Kieran as they attempt to upset the favourites, Birr and although Offaly manager Michael Bond has invited him back into the panel, it is widely accepted that Dooley is close to retirement.
Alongside younger brothers Billy and Johnny, Joe Dooley has already won four Offaly championship medals, but the expectations are that Birr will have the stronger side on this occasion.
The All-Ireland club championship gets back on track in Thurles on Saturday week with the refixed semi-final replay between Graigue-Ballycallan and Sixmilebridge.
The Kilkenny champions warmed up with a challenge game against Limerick last weekend, but Sixmilebridge manager Paddy Meehan is satisfied that his side have survived the lull without any loss of sharpness and reports no injury worries.
"We had some easy training over those last two weeks and just kept things ticking over," says Meehan.
The two semi-finals of the Leinster colleges senior hurling championship go ahead this Saturday (3.0). Dublin Colleges face the All-Ireland champions St Kieran's, Kilkenny at Parnell Park, while Good Counsel meet Cistercian, Roscrea at Nowlan Park.
Meanwhile, Larry Doyle's appeal against his demotion as Wexford minor hurling manager was accepted by the adult management committee after a meeting in Enniscorthy on Tuesday night and he immediately resumes his duties as team manager.
