Crossmaglen Rangers have expressed their fury at the decision to fixture their All-Ireland club football semi-final against Dr Crokes for Saturday, February 18 in Portlaoise.

The game will throw-in at exactly the same time (2pm) as the other semi-final between Garrycastle and St. Brigid's in Pearse Park, Longford, and the reigning All-Ireland champions are unhappy that their game hasn't been fixed for the following day.

"We will probably have only half of our normal support now," Cross' PRO Tom McKay said in the Irish Examiner.

"I don't think the fixtures planners have taken into account the fact that quite a number of people, at least many of those fortunate enough to be in jobs, still work on Saturdays.

"Obviously the gate receipts will be adversely affected and this at a time when the GAA should be doing its utmost to attract fans into high-profile games of this nature. There was no consultation, to my knowledge, in advance of the date being arrived at and to say that we are unhappy would be to put it very mildly."

Long-serving Crossmaglen forward Oisin McConville has echoed McKay's sentiments.

"It is obvious the allure of the game has been diluted, from our perspective, because of the Saturday date," he said.

"Quite a number of people have made it clear that they will not be travelling. Our club will incur huge overheads in fulfilling this fixture and it would have helped greatly had it been arranged for the Sunday as the match would have generated more income on all fronts." Tweet

Most Read Stories