Laois GAA was prepared to waive its right to ground rent in order to host Dublin in next year's Leinster SFC, county chairman Gerry Kavanagh has claimed.

Kavanagh was hopeful that his county's potential quarter-final clash with the All-Ireland champions would be scheduled for Portlaoise, but Leinster Council delegates voted on Wednesday night to fix the game for Kilkenny on Saturday, June 4 at 7pm. They did so on the basis that Nowlan Park boasts 17,734 seats compared to O'Moore Park's 6,000 seats.

Speaking to the Irish Daily Star, the Laois chairman says his county board would have been entitled to a percentage of the gate receipts, which he estimated to be worth up to €40,000.

"If people were saying we wanted this game because we were greedy, that we were looking for the ground rent, people should know that we offered to forego our ground rent.

"We said that if money is at the crux of this, then we were willing to forego ours. Depending on the gate, of course, that ground rent would be worth €30,000, on the conservative lower point, and up to €40,000 on the higher point. We made it clear we were open to foregoing that."

Meanwhile, Laois vice-chairman Peter O'Neill has made his feelings known on the decision on Facebook.

He fumed: "Absolute disgrace match going to Nowlan Park. No disrespect to Kilkenny, a fantastic stadium, but not for this game.

"This belittles the efforts of Laois and Wicklow and seat numbers is only a smokescreen. Bringing football to Kilkenny is not going to improve it. Be better off playing it in Croke Park, but wait for it, maybe that was the plan all along." 

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