Kildare fans: set your sat navs for Thurles Tipperary Town Clonmel.
Definitely Clonmel.
Definitely, maybe.
The novel and potentially pivotal Allianz Football League Division 3 fixture between Tipperary and Kildare has been epic so far, and it doesn’t even throw in until 2pm on Saturday.
Table toppers Kildare are looking for a fifth win from six games against Liam Kearns’ Tipperary side, who are still in the hunt for promotion themselves.
The only problem has been finding a venue in Tipperary, with the match gradually moving south through the county – from North Riding to South.
Originally it was fixed for Semple Stadium, until it was decided to move it last Friday ahead of the All-Ireland Colleges final between Ardscoil Ris and St Kieran’s College on Easter Monday.
The NFL match between Kildare and Tipperary will now take place in Sean Treacy Park, Tipperary town. Sat 26th March at 2pm.
— Kildare GAA Fans (@kildare_fans) March 18, 2016
However Sean Treacy Park is seemingly going through a bit of a Dr Hyde Park (as opposed to Mr Jeckyll???) moment and the match was moved again on Tuesday.
This time further south to Clonmel, which is closer to Newbridge than Tipperary Town, but further away than Thurles.
Fixture change! The Kildare v Tipperary NFL match has been confirmed for Clonmel on Saturday 26th March at 2pm!
— Kildare GAA Fans (@kildare_fans) March 22, 2016
A Tipperary spokesperson told SportsJOE that the county board had no option but to move the game from Semple Stadium in the first place, once the colleges hurling final was set for Easter Monday.
“Semple is still not recovered from the winter,” he said. “The footballers were supposed to play Offaly there as part of a double header at the start of March, but if you had played a football match there would have been no way you’d play the hurling afterwards”
Sean Treacy Park is similarly delicate after a long, wet winter and the pitch was deemed unsuitable after the weekend.
Still, some Kildare fans are wondering what the hell is going on.
https://twitter.com/cilldaratimes/status/712227685905383424
Kildare and Tipperary has now been confirmed for Clonmel 2 pm Saturday. This is third time it has changed, best to check before travelling
— Tommy Callaghan (@TommyCallaghan1) March 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/cilldaratimes/status/712239348545167360
Kildare fans seem to think Tipperary are playing games over venue… Could make an interesting clash on Saturday 😊
— Killian Whelan (@Killian_Whelan) March 22, 2016
Moving the game from the hurling heartland of Tipperary to the home of the Munster club football champions… it’s game on alright.
