A fixtures clash involving their senior hurlers and footballers has annoyed Laois County Board officials.

Speaking to the Irish Daily Star, O’Moore County chairman Peter O’Neill expressed their unhappiness that supporters will be forced to choose between supporting John Sugrue’s footballers and Eddie Brennan’s hurlers against Westmeath and Carlow respectively this Sunday.

“We’re splitting our fan base,” he said. “We’ve a small fan base that follow both football and hurling. We had great support at the hurling last week and made a big effort to promote it.”

He added: “I’d love to be at both but I can’t be in two places at the same time. It also shows you can’t have dual inter-county players anymore in the GAA.”

In response, a GAA spokesperson told the Star: “Where possible, the CCCC endeavours to avoid instances where a county’s senior football and hurling teams are in action at the same time in the Allianz Leagues.

“In this instance a clash has occurred but there has been no complaint lodged by a county committee over the schedule of games this weekend.

“It is not the intention to discommode supporters deliberately and efforts are made to keep clashes to a minimum – but it is a consequence of the fact that our priority and desire in scheduling “dual” League weekends is to make more room available for club games, which means a smaller window being available for inter-county matches.”

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