Donegal will face Dublin in Croke Park in Saturday week’s first-round Super 8 game following a meeting between the Donegal County Board and a GAA delegation in the capital earlier today.
Donegal raised their concerns about Dublin nominating Croke Park as a home venue but they were informed that there was no rule contravened.
However, Donegal’s argument will be considered ahead of next year’s All-Ireland SFC after they insisted a review of this year’s competition be conducted.
A joint statement read: “The GAA has confirmed that a meeting between Senior officials and members of the Donegal County Committee took place in Croke Park earlier today.
“It was accepted as part of these discussions, that the rules in relation to the new All Ireland SFC Quarter Final Round Robin system had been democratically adopted at Congress 2017 and that these provided for all Round 1 games to be played at Croke Park and each county to subsequently have one home and one away game.
"While Donegal challenged how any team could nominate Croke Park as their home venue, it was acknowledged that there was nothing in Rule to prohibit this."
“Donegal also requested in light of the issues they highlighted, that a review of the first year of the new championship structures be held by Central Council later in the year and that all counties be invited to submit their observations in this context.
“It was agreed that the issues highlighted by Donegal would be considered as part of this process and that if Central Council collectively felt that non-structural changes to aspects of the Championship were required, that these could be put to Annual Congress in 2019 for consideration.”
Yesterday, Donegal captain Michael Murphy said he expected the game to take place in Croke Park regardless of the county board’s statement on Tuesday that they were seeking “clarification on how any County may use a Ground as both Neutral and a Home venue”.
