Stand up for the boys in blue, Laois insist.
No, really.
At tonight’s 2016 Leinster SFC fixture meeting GAA chiefs are expected to send Dublin out on the road for the first time in a decade.
However a row over the venue of this historic fixture has begun rumbling before the fixture is even made.
The All-Ireland champions will play the winners of Laois and Wicklow in a Leinster SFC quarter-final but the heavy favourites to win that first round tie, Laois, are balking at suggestions they will lose home advantage to accommodate the hordes.
Kilkenny’s Nowlan Park, with a capacity of 25,000 including 17,000 seats, is expected to be chosen ahead of O’Moore Park in Portlaoise (just 6,200 seats out of 18,000 capacity), and Laois ain’t happy.
“We’d be hoping for support to have Portlaoise as the venue for the Dublin game if we beat Wicklow. We were told in 2014 that in the event of Laois drawing with Dublin in the Leinster quarter-final, the replay would be in Portlaoise,” county secretary Niall Handy told the Irish Independent.
“Why should there be any difference if a decision is taken to take Dublin out of Croke Park now?” he asked.
Given the financial hit if Dublin depart Croke Park, the Leinster Council will look to maximise ticket receipts for any proposed road trip, which could see the heavily redeveloped O’Moore Park lose out to the home of the All-Ireland hurling champions.
Handy is concerned that choosing Nowlan Park over the Laois venue could set a dangerous precedent in this proposed new age of wandering Dubs.
“Does that mean that if Offaly drew Dublin in the future, the game couldn’t be in Tullamore, where O’Connor Park is a fine ground,” he said.
Imagine asking Dublin fans to stand? Now there is a dangerous precedent.
Oh, wait.
