AFTER all that happened on the sporting front these last few days, it would be nice to have a weekend off, but the sporting gods won’t allow it!

How nice of them by the way to ensure that we wouldn’t miss Cuala and Na Piarsaigh, arranging a replay for those who missed the drawn match due to Grand Slam commitments.

Surely the GAA could have thought that one out a little better. The club finals were almost an afterthought last Saturday and the attendance of 15,000 could be considered paltry. There are lights in Croke Park, so why not put the games on at 5pm and 7pm?

That would have been outside the box thinking, and right now anyone who mentions fixtures in the vicinity of Croke is liable to have a sliotar thrown at them.

The GAA hierarchy have had a desperate few weeks weather-wise and the schedule is out the window along with the idea of keeping April for the clubs.

In the middle of all this amateur players were taken for granted again last weekend when told their Sunday games would simply be rearranged for Monday, and just to get on with it.

Apparently the GPA threatened to flex its muscle and the word boycott was bandied about, but of course that came to nothing. Instead, Limerick and Clare played 100 minutes of spellbinding hurling before a free-taking competition decided their league quarter-final in The Gaelic Grounds.

Stirring stuff for sure, but with neither out again for two weeks because of other postponements, did they have to endure that physical torture? Could there not have been a replay?

The argument I kept hearing was that this format to decide the game was written in the match programme, therefore it had to be followed. It had to be true.

A closer look at the match programme however shows it was dated for Sunday 18 March, the day the match was originally to have taken place. The programme of course was printed earlier in the week when it was assumed that all the other quarter finals were taking place and all must be played to a conclusion to ensure the competition ended before April. Long before the start of Monday’s epic in Limerick that target was pushed back.

The GAA has been dropping a lot of balls in recent weeks, the new look league having backfired into a bit of a fixture mess that will surely impact the finals, whenever they take place. They unfortunately are fast heading for an afterthought due to all that is to come quickly after them.

Good luck to the Limerick hurlers, now my tip for the league title. They proved the value of a bench on Monday, something that is valuable in a 70 minute contest, but absolutely crucial in one that lasts 100!

Limerick’s heroics overshadowed Offaly’s display against the Cats in Tullamore, a performance that also merits mention. Level with time running, the Faithful fell to two late Kilkenny points, a result that puts their hammering of Dublin in the shade because the Cats are a different animal.

Brian Cody and John Kiely can sit back and watch Tipperary emerge from their contest with Dublin this weekend, while the best ticket in town will be in Wexford.

The All-Ireland champions are the visitors and the home side will be revved up. The Yellowbellies don’t do chilled or calm with Davy Fitz at the helm, they’re out to win this match, win the league and anything else they can get their hands on.

The Tribesmen might be smarting a little from their loss to Limerick and going into the summer would probably prefer one or two more stern tests under their belts. So they should be up for it too.

These two meet in the same ground on 2 June so I think there might be skin and hair flying on Sunday. Victory for either will have a bearing on that championship encounter.

Recent injury victim Lee Chin is the key to Wexford’s ambitions. If he is fit and playing then they are the confident bet to progress, if not there could be more freetaking!

FOOTBALL

On the big ball front the only uncertainty in the top division is over who will join Kildare in being relegated. Donegal and Mayo clash for that dubious privilege in Ballybofey and a draw will suffice for the Connacht men.

The second tier is now up in a heap, with Tipperary, Louth, Meath and Down all a game behind the other counties.

Half the teams are possible promotion contenders, the other half are looking over their shoulders at the drop. Right now there is a distinct possibility that Meath could go down, if they don’t beat fellow strugglers Down.

That would be a kick in the teeth for the Royals and sure to set off alarm bells. Current manager Andy McEntee will naturally feel the heat from fans who still see Meath as the Boylan powehouse of the 1980s and 90s despite all recent evidence.

It is only a matter of time before Jim McGuinness, now back in Ireland after his Chinese travels, starts to get mentioned for potential managerial vacancies or as an ‘advisor’.

A so called sleeping giant like Meath might be a fit for him. But the harsh truth is that Meath’s last Leinster senior final appearance was in 2014 and it was a 16 point loss to the Dubs. Their last title was 2010 (anyone remember that final!) their only provincial crown in 17 years.

While their minors contested an All-Ireland final in 2012, their last Leinster title was a decade ago. The U-21s have fared no better, with one losing provincial final in 17 years all they have to show. The problems run a little deeper than personalities. I’ll be watching their result with much interest on Sunday.

There will be plenty of action this weekend, so get out and catch some of it.

Anyone seen the forecast?

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