National Football League semi-final: The National Football League semi-final tie between Mayo and Armagh - which was postponed yesterday at Dr Hyde Park due to bad weather - has been refixed for Croke Park next Sunday afternoon, with a 3.30pm throw-in.

The decision to play the match at headquarters caused eyebrows to be raised in some official GAA quarters last night, as the repair work on the Croke Park pitch did not look to be at a sufficiently advanced stage over the Congress weekend to hold such a game. Both the Division Two semi-finals - Derry v Monaghan and Fermanagh v Meath - have again been fixed for Clones next Sunday.

Armagh are in danger of having to cancel a training week due to the fixtures headache caused by torrential rain washing out three of the four National Football League semi-finals.

"We were supposed to be going away in the first week in May," said Armagh manager Joe Kernan. "When you have paid your money it's very hard to get it back. But we'll talk about that this evening (Sunday)."

Kernan was particularly unhappy over the late announcement of the postponement, which was confirmed by referee Maurice Deegan only an hour and 20 minutes before the throw-in. Deegan's arrival had been delayed by match traffic congestion just outside Roscommon.

"People rang us to ask us if the game was off, they heard it on the radio," said Kernan. "This should have been done this morning. We're supposed to be a professional organisation. This is a joke. The money that has been spent by people travelling from all parts of the country, Mayo and Armagh, to come and see this and now we're being told that it's not on."

Local opinion reported Dr Hyde Park was very likely to be unplayable from noon yesterday, yet Deegan did not call the game off until 2.25pm. "Maybe some people are basking in the glory of yesterday," said Kernan, referring to Saturday's "yes" vote at Congress, "and forgot about the most important people today."

The only senior football match that went ahead was the Wexford-Tyrone Division One semi-final, which saw Wexford progress to their first national football final in over 50 years.

With the championship around the corner there are potential problems for both Armagh and Fermanagh, who are scheduled to meet in Ulster's preliminary round on May 15th. Derry and Monaghan play each other in the first round of the Ulster championship while Wexford and Meath are in action on the same day, all on June 5th. The Dr Hyde Park curtain-raiser, Galway v Cork in the Suzuki Women's NFL final, was also postponed.

At Saturday evening's Central Council meeting Paddy Muldoon of Mayo, Westmeath's Liam Martin and Gene Duffy from Armagh were elected to Management while Roscommon's Phonsie Tully and John Heaphey of Monaghan will serve on the GAC.