No six-day turnaround for Podge.
Podge would LOVE the kind of six-day turnaround the Louth footballers were so unhappy about last week.
Podge Collins, Clare dual star, is eyeing up a 17-hour turnaround between his county’s Round 2 hurling qualifier with Limerick and the deferred football qualifier against Laois.
Davy Fitzgerald’s league champions were drawn against local rivals Limerick in the hurling following their destruction of Laois on Saturday evening – Collins scoring 1-3 of Clare’s 5-33 total during the siege of Ennis.
When Clare-Limerick and the other Round 2 hurling qualifier between Wexford and Cork were fixed for Thurles on Saturday evening as part of a triple-header with the Cork-Limerick football qualifier, it was feared Collins would be unable to line-out for the football team his father, Colm, manages.
However, the Central Competitions Control Committee moved the Round 2A football clash with Laois to 2pm on Sunday at Cusack Park.
Collins, a hero of the 2013 All-Ireland triumph, decided against playing with the hurlers last year as Fitzgerald was seemingly unhappy with a dual arrangement, but was welcomed back this year after a schedule was worked out to the satisfaction of all involved.
This clash only occurred because of the Armagh-Laois rematch, inspired by Laois’s seven-substitute clusterf**k. However, the potential for more replays means Collins runs the risk of further clashes as long as Clare remain in both the football and hurling championships.
Collins could really have done with the hurling clash being fixed for one of the earlier throw-ins of the triple-header in Thurles, the 7pm start meaning he has just 17 hours between the end of the hurling match and the start of the football match at 2pm on Sunday.
Weekend Fixtures
Saturday 9 July
All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers Round 2A
Derry v Meath, Owenbeg, 2.30pm
Cavan v Carlow, Breffni Park, 5pm
All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers Round 2B
Cork v Limerick, Semple Stadium, 3pm
Mayo v Fermanagh, MacHale Park, 3.30pm – RTE
Monaghan v Longford, Clones, 6.30pm
Kildare v Offaly, Newbridge, 6.30pm
All-Ireland SHC Qualifier Round 2
Cork v Wexford, Semple Stadium, 5pm – SKY
Clare v Limerick, Semple Stadium, 7pm – SKY
Sunday 10 July
Connacht SFC final
Galway v Roscommon, Pearse Stadium, 2pm – RTE
All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers Round 2A
Clare v Laois, Cusack Park, Ennis, 2pm
Connacht MFC final
Galway v Mayo, Pearse Stadium, 12noon
Munster SHC final
Waterford v Tipperary, Gaelic Grounds, 4pm – RTE
Ulster SHC final
Antrim v Armagh, Owenbeg, 3.30pm
