Interprovincial Championships: Unless the GAA does more to facilitate the M Donnelly interprovincial championships (Railway Cups), the sponsorship - now in its fourth year - will have to be reconsidered.

Speaking at the launch of this year's competition in Croke Park yesterday, sponsor Martin Donnelly was asked about his attitude to his continuing involvement given the many problems besetting the teams, most of whose managers were also present.

"When I took it over first I knew these problems were there," he said, "and we worked hard to retrieve it. Some games were played in places like Nenagh in front of about 20 people. If the upcoming special congress has the desired result it should ease the club situation because club fixtures are a big problem.

"The only reason I'm staying involved is the enthusiasm of the players and managers but if in two or three years' time we're still having these problems we'll have to look at it again and consider different ways to spend the money."

This year's competitions start with the football semi-finals next weekend. Both matches will be played under lights - an innovation that proved popular last year - with Munster and Connacht first into action in Ballyforan on Friday in a match brought forward because of the wedding of Kerry footballer Darragh Ó Sé.

Last year's finalists, Leinster and Ulster, meet on Saturday in Cavan.

The question of delayed county championships has been causing problems at large as well as for the interprovincials and it is hoped next Saturday week's special congress on the rearrangement of the inter-county season will create some more breathing space for club competition and consequently more space for the Railway Cups.

Since the Internationals Rules series has been moved back in the calendar it, too, is causing problems for the provincial teams because of the obvious overlap between international triallists and potential provincial players.

The intensifying of the problems comes, ironically, at a time when there was some optimism that the Railway Cups had found a niche in late October-early November being played under lights. Over 5,000 attended last year's final at Parnell Park in Dublin.

The playing of finals abroad, alternating the football and hurling, has also added novelty to the competition but the cost of shipping teams has drawn criticism from some provinces, notably Connacht.

Several managers attended yesterday: Connacht - John Fahey (Galway hurling secretary) and John O'Mahony; Leinster - Val Andrews; Munster - Jerry O'Sullivan (hurling) and Gerry O'Sullivan (football); Ulster - Brian McEniff.

As doyen of the group, McEniff, who has been involved for over 20 years, said he was experiencing severe difficulties and was happy his counterparts should know that.

"Val Andrews phoned me to say that he was short an awful lot of players. I said, 'Have faith' - I've very few myself."

Whereas there was optimism that the special congress could alleviate the situation, most felt changes were needed to the intercounty calendar. Commenting on the widespread belief that county managers are contributing to the club crisis by refusing to release players, O'Mahony said, "Managers are an easy target but I have a couple of suggestions to improve the situation.

"The National Leagues should be started earlier and the secondary competitions moved aside. I know that the McKenna Cup attracted up to 20,000 for matches last year but those crowds would be there for the league if it started two weeks earlier.

"I also think the under-21 championship should be played alongside the league and under-21 players not allowed play for the seniors as long as their counties were in the championship."

According to Andrews the competition might benefit from a move to early January: "I'd play it then and run it over a Saturday and Sunday. It would be a great way to kick off the season and there are floodlights in all the provincial centres.

"Players love this competition. I thought we'd have to beat them out to play but there's great enthusiasm. If they prize the competition, so should we."

Interprovincial Championships 2006

Football

Semi-finals Friday, Oct 6th Connacht v Munster Ballyforan, Roscommon ... 8pm

Saturday, Oct 7th Ulster v Leinster Breffni Park, Cavan ... 7pm

Final Sunday, Oct 22nd Canton, Boston ... 3pm (local time)

Hurling

Semi-finals Saturday, Oct 14th Leinster v Ulster Parnell Park, Dublin ... 7pm

Sunday, Oct 15th Connacht v Munster Cusack Park, Ennis ... 2.30pm

Final Saturday, Oct 28th Pearse Stadium, Galway ... 5.15pm