The Leinster Council of the GAA will meet tonight to finalise venues for next year’s senior championships and much focus will be on where delegates decide to play Dublin's opening encounter against either Laois or Wicklow in football.
In the immediate aftermath of last month’s Leinster draw, word had surfaced that Dublin would be playing a first championship match outside Croke Park since 2006. Indeed, Dubs chairman Sean Shanley said it’s a “done deal” that the reigning provincial champions will be on their travels for their 2016 opener.
The question now is will they be heading to Nowlan Park or O’Moore Park? The other option is to keep Jim Gavin’s side at GAA HQ.
According to RTÉ GAA correspondent, Brian Carthy, three groupings that reflect the options outlined above will be present tonight when delegates make their decision.
“One grouping will want Dublin to remain Croke Park because of the financial considerations," he said.
"Another grouping would feel that taking Dublin out of Croke Park would give them a better chance of beating Dublin and a final group would want Dublin out of Croke Park but they wouldn’t want to be playing them in Nowlan Park.”
Laois, if they get past Wicklow, would obviously like home advantage for the quarter-final. Nowlan Park has come into the mix because of its 28,000 capacity – 18,000 of which will be seated.
