The GAA's Central Council will meet today to consider switching next weekend’s All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals and the Tailteann Cup semi-finals.
As it stands the Tailteann Cup semi-finals are due to be played on Sunday, while on Saturday the All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals are scheduled to be contested.
Croke Park (Tailteann Cup) and Thurles (hurling) are the two venues most likely to host those fixtures.
However, it’s possible that those games could be flipped. The promotional challenges of having two All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals on a Saturday, down for a lunchtime throw-in, had already been raised.
And Wexford are also keen for a Sunday switch for their clash with Clare as they are hosting the extremely popular All-Ireland Féile na nGael national hurling series on Saturday.
Their meeting with Clare was part of a quarter-final double-bill, with Cork and Dublin also due to meet in FBD Semple Stadium.
It’s understood that Central Council will today discuss switching those two games to Sunday.
This would mean the Tailteann Cup semi-finals would go ahead in Croke Park on Saturday.
In those semi-finals, Down will face Sligo and Antrim will meet the winners of today’s quarter-final between Kildare and Laois.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport, Sligo boss Tony McEntee voiced his displeasure at the impending decision.
"For three years now we've been trying to give some status to the Tailteann Cup, trying to tell lower ranked teams that this is an important competition and we respect it, it has a position in the calendar and it has its own rights," McEntee said.
"Sunday the 23rd was the date set that teams who had done well and got to the Tailteann Cup semi-final would get a Sunday afternoon slot and get the high-profile exposure that had been agreed to.
"All of a sudden this is changed and that slot is now going to switch to hurling. The GAA still say the Tailteann Cup teams will play in Croke Park and it will be televised on the Saturday. It’s the integrity of the competition and more so that when the hurling teams lobby the GAA, the GAA will readily switch the dates for the competitions at a whim's notice.
"That decision is going to be made tonight but there’s a strong push in favour of the hurling counties for this change and I believe the hurling counties want and are lobbying for this change.
"I don’t believe the stronger football counties really understand or have lived through what the lower counties are doing and therefore I don’t believe that they will support or fight that change that we’re looking for here in Sligo and, I suspect, down in Kildare, Laois or Antrim.
"I totally understand what’s going on in the hurling and I think they are correct in what they’re looking for. I totally agree with what they’re saying, they have five games left in the hurling season, they want as much profile as possible as this.
"The thing is though, that argument should have been made before this week. The change here that has precipitated this is the fact that the [URC final] rugby is not taking place next Saturday in Croke Park.
"Had Leinster won yesterday, the rugby final would have been taking place in Croke Park next weekend. So now because Croke Park is free, they’re saying we can make this change and everything is fine.
"But in doing so, we are now prioritising the hurling over a secondary competition here and highlighting, endorsing and promoting the fact that the Tailteann Cup is just a lower ranked, secondary competition which we can change at a whim – and this is what it is, it’s a whim.
"It’s on the back of some lobbying that these hurling counties have done – that they’ve correctly done, I agree with what they’re saying – but this decision should have been made weeks ago when the fixtures calendar came out and that there was an awareness for that.
"The very reasons that you want to promote the hurling are the same reasons that you want to promote the football."
Sligo county board released their own statement, expressing their unhappiness with the potential switch.
"This proposal is counter to the commitment the GAA claims to have to the competition and is disrespectful to the counties participating, their players and their supporters. We've made our position clear to the leadership of the GAA and to our peers throughout the Association."
Meanwhile, the four All-Ireland preliminary SFC quarter-finals will also take place next weekend and the draw for those games will take place shortly after the 8.30am bulletin on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland on Monday.
