A lack of proper floodlighting at high-profile GAA grounds is the reason why no Allianz League games of major significance are taking place next Saturday night.
The last round of football league games will all throw in at 2pm on Sunday, followed by the four league hurling quarter-finals and the Division 1A relegation playoff at 4pm.
It had been thought that at least one of the hurling matches could be moved to Saturday night given the success of recent matches in that slot. However, the lack of floodlights in Cusack Park, Ennis, and Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, ruled both Clare v Dublin and Kilkenny v Wexford out of the equation.
And with the other three quarter-finals all involving home counties who were able to put on double-headers, all three had to go ahead on Sunday as well.
“Nowlan Park doesn’t have lights so that wasn’t a runner,” said a Croke Park spokesman. “And the other three quarter-finals are part of double-headers in Cork, Galway and Offaly. If and when a double-header is possible for supporters, that’s what we try to do.
“If Dublin had won the toss with Clare and the relegation playoff set for Parnell Park, that would have been a perfect candidate for the Saturday night. But because Cusack Park doesn’t have lights, that wasn’t a runner either.
“Two years ago we had this idea of maybe running the last round of Division Two matches on the Saturday night but it was going to clash with the Connacht under-21 semi-finals, and we would have run the risk of a clash there with possibly Galway being involved in both. Maybe next year, when the under-21 grade goes away, there will be a possibility of playing the last round of one of the divisions on the Saturday night.”
Throughout the 2017 league the Saturday night 7pm slot has been a major success for Eir Sport. In recent weeks, Kilkenny have drawn with Tipperary in hurling and Dublin have drawn with Kerry in football. It seems a shame, therefore, that just when the leagues are bubbling to a finish, the Saturday games have ceased.
Eir's involvement was always coming to an end for the season at this point anyway, but it is thought that TG4 were keen to show at least one game in that slot on Saturday.
“We don’t have rights for knock-out hurling games,” said an Eir spokesman. “They’re TG4’s rights. Our deal was always to show matches up until last weekend and then TG4 show them the rest of the way. We were never going to be on air with matches past the weekend just gone. Our last games were always going to be Dublin v Roscommon and the other games we had on last Saturday night.”
The news is a blow for TG4 who will make a decision later in the week as to which games they will show on Sunday.
"It's just very unlucky that the draw came out the way it did," said Ronán Ó Coisdealbha, TG4 head of sport.
“We would have been delighted to show Dublin v Clare from Parnell Park if that’s how it had come out of the hat, but as it is there are no lights in Cusack Park so there’s no game for that slot, which is a pity. And in fairness to Cork, they wanted to have a double-header on Sunday rather than have a game against Limerick on Saturday night around the time the Munster were playing, which is fair enough.”
Hurling League quarter-finals (All fixtures to be played on Sunday April 2nd, 4pm throw-in):
Offaly v Tipperary, O’Connor Park, Tullamore
Cork v Limerick, Páirc Uí Rinn, Cork
Galway v Waterford, Pearse Stadium, Salthill
Kilkenny v Wexford, Nowlan Park, Kilkenny
Division 1A relegation play-off
Clare v Dublin, Cusack Park, Ennis
