AT LUNCHTIME on Thursday the Croke Park press office sent around an email to publicise the interprovincial football and hurling semi-finals, which take place today at the old Fermoy grounds in Cork and the recently developed Kiltoom grounds in Roscommon.

"Both programmes promise high-quality fare," the email began - yet as an exercise in promotion it was pathetic.

If it gave the impression the GAA has effectively given up on the competition then that's probably because they have.

The irony, of course, is the GAA publicity train has been whistling loudly about the International Rules tour and the GAA hierarchy - players as well as officials - are on that tour to Australia, and will still be there when the two interprovincial finals are played at O'Moore Park in Portlaoise next Saturday.

A few weeks ago GAA president Nickey Brennan caught quite a few people off guard when he suggested this might well be the last roll of the dice for the interprovincial competitions, when before he had nothing but praise for their importance and optimism for their future.

Truth is the GAA have probably done all they can to revive the competitions and no matter what they might still mean to the players that get involved, the bottom line is the necessary interest is simply no longer there.

There are only so many times you can reinvent or rebrand something and still expect it to feel new. And the GAA have tried - from taking it to foreign cities to making it a celebration of the GAA in the capital city - and still the end result has been the same: poor crowds, minimal media coverage, and the overwhelming sense that no one really cares anymore.

Now they've practically run out of ideas and the sad reality is no one cares about that either.

Armagh's former All-Ireland-winning manager Joe Kernan, who is in charge of the Ulster football team, reckons the GAA should at least revert to the original St Patrick's Day scheduling. It's just hard to see how that will make the desired difference.

Tyrone's All-Ireland-winning manager Mickey Harte reckons the All Star selection should be partly based on performances in the interprovincial matches, but it's even harder to see that being either practical of effective.

The GAA have faced several accusations this week over their treatment, or indeed neglect, of the interprovincial competitions, but it's hard to know what more they could do.

Since 2001 they have had the faithful backing of Martin Donnelly and together they have tried to come up with inventive ways of injecting new life into the competitions.

They brought the finals to Paris, Rome and Boston, alternating between football and hurling, and while this at least generated interest among GAA expatriates the problems persisted.

The headline in The Irish Times sports pages of October 29th, 2004, said it all: "Paris prize can't cure provincial wounded".

The report noted that despite the allure of the final being staged in the French capital, neither Ulster nor Connacht could field anything like full-strength teams for their football semi-final in Castlebar.

A year later, the GAA tried sending the hurling competition to Boston and while the crowd on the day was commendable, the venture still failed to attract the interest on the side of the Atlantic that mattered most.

So, last year it was decided they should bring the competitions back to Croke Park for the first time since 1991, playing the two finals under floodlights and embarking on an extensive marketing campaign.

Despite spending €10,000 on that marketing campaign, which was partly based on attracting the immigrant community as potential spectators, with low ticket prices of €10 for adults and €5, for children, the crowd of just over 10,000 was deemed disappointing.

Under the headline "Strain to sell interprovincial finals", The Irish Times report of Wednesday, October 17, 2007, noted: - The GAA are struggling to generate ticket sales for the interprovincial finals, set for Croke Park on Saturday week. Leinster's defeat in both the hurling and football semi-finals last Saturday has added to the problem, effectively eliminating any local interest, and the prospect of a near-empty stadium looms.

It's hardly a reflection of the interest in Gaelic games during the so-called off-season, however, as attendances at the ongoing county finals have been up to or above recent levels.

With 11 county finals down for decision this weekend, along with the start of the provincial club competitions, overall attendances even at this time of the year aren't too far off championship levels.

So where does the GAA go from here? Brennan claims he has done all he can but is close to giving up on it. The managers make great claims about where the competition should go but it seems to be going round in circles.

And the players claim it means a great deal to line out yet many aren't available, for whatever reasons. If that all sounds like it signals the end of the road for the interprovincial championship it's probably because it does.