By John Fogarty
Sky Sports say they have a contingency plan in place should the All-Ireland SFC qualifier double-header not take place in Croke Park this Saturday.
As Kildare remain adamant that the game be played in Newbridge’s St Conleth’s Park as they were awarded home advantage, the game’s would-be broadcasters are prepared to televise the matches outside of Croke Park, where they have been scheduled by the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee.
GAA authorities have given no indication that the Kildare-Mayo and Cavan-Tyrone matches will be played anywhere but GAA HQ. However, Sky, who stated they had no say in where the matches were staged, are flexible.
Their statement read: “Sky Sports has introduced red button functionality to cater for all eventualities including extra time for when we have double headers on our GAA coverage. Sky has absolutely no influence on the selection of venues for live televised matches.
“In any event, we will have crews ready and in place to film this weekend’s games regardless of where they take place.”
Kildare manager Cian O’Neill has called a press conference for this evening in the county’s Hawkfield training centre where he is expected to reiterate the Lilywhites’ stance. O’Neill, who backed up his remarks on KFM Radio this morning, could be joined by players.
