As the 'big freeze' makes way for the 'big thaw', provincial chiefs are confident of completing their pre-season football competitions before the start of the National League next month. Leinster secretary Michael Delaney, who last week was refusing to rule out the possibility of the O'Byrne Cup being shelved altogether, was far more optimistic yesterday when he said: "If we get next weekend out of the way, we'll have reached the O'Byrne Cup semi-finals. "So far we've only missed out on one weekend so we're still on schedule to reach the final by the end of this month. We're not panicking yet." His Ulster counterpart Danny Murphy reported a similar situation in relation to the Dr McKenna Cup: "The extent of the thaw means we should be all right and if we get fixtures played next weekend, there should be no problem. There has been a serious curtailment of all activities, with most of the pitches frozen and unavailable." Connacht secretary John Prenty told the Irish Times: "We're hoping to start off at the weekend with the better weather, but any further worsening of conditions and we won't be able to conclude the FBD before the league starts. "In that case, we'll be postponing the final until the 20th or 28th of next month. The reason for the uncertainty is Leitrim are scheduled to play a football league fixture on the 20th (against Kilkenny) and if they reach the final, it will have to be deferred until the following weekend." Munster Council secretary Pat Fitzgerald noted: "We're hopeful that the matches will go ahead this week. We've lost two weekends, but we'll go midweek if we have to, to clear the backlog. We'll be okay if we get two more rounds out of the way. "Everywhere's been snowed under, but there's a good thaw." Tweet

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