The GAA have announced the dates and fixtures for the Interprovincial football and hurling championships, with the finals no longer set to take place in Croke Park. The semi-finals in both competitions take place on Saturday 25 October with Fraher Field in Waterford hosting the Munster against Ulster games in both codes. Kiltoom in Roscommon is the venue as Connacht take on Leinster in both football and hurling. The two finals will then be played as a double header under floodlights in Portlaoise seven days later on Saturday 1 November. Last year the two deciders returned to Croke Park for the first time in a number of years and with a high profile marketing campaign along with a reduced ticket price of Eu10, it was hoped that a big crowd would fill the stadium. Even though the attendance of 10,127 was way up on finals in recent years, the fact that there were 72,000 empty spaces in the stadium is bound to have played some part on the decision to move the games to a provincial venue this year. The timing of the games has also come into question, as they take place while the Irish International Rules squad is touring Australia. Martin Donnelly, who has sponsored the competition, has stated that such a clash can only weaken the tournament. "It wouldn't make much sense playing it at the same time because you would be without many of the top footballers for a start," said Donnelly during the summer. The fixtures in full are: Saturday 25 October GAA Interprovincial Hurling Championship semi-finals Fraher Field 2.00pm Munster v Ulster Kiltoom 3.30pm Connacht v Leinster GAA Interprovincial Football Championship semi-finals Fraher Field 3.30pm Munster v Ulster Kiltoom 5.00pm Connacht v Leinster Saturday 1 November GAA Interprovincial Hurling Championship final Portlaoise 6.00pm Munster/Ulster v Connacht/Leinster GAA Interprovincial Football Championship final Portlaoise 7.45pm Munster/Ulster v Connacht/Leinster Tweet

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