Sunday's Kildare-Offaly Joe McDonagh Cup tie has been fixed for Hawkfield despite concerns around the venue’s ability to host the game.
With St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge having closed last month as it prepares for an overhaul, Kildare have been left in a bind as to where to play their home fixtures, something that will surface later in the season for their footballers, be it in the All-Ireland or Tailteann Cup group stage.
But while games involving the footballers will have to be shifted outside the county, Kildare nominated their training ground outside Newbridge for Sunday's game and the CCCC has obliged by fixing it there with a 2pm throw-in.
It comes despite Offaly expressing doubt about its suitability with county chairman Michael Duignan saying “you wouldn’t expect games of that stature to be played in a training facility”.
The counties met last Sunday week in the Division 2A League final, won by Offaly in front of a crowd of around 2,600 in Portlaoise, with Hawkfield’s capacity stretching to 1,500 at most.
But given that this is a round robin tie and not a final with promotion to Division One at stake, the crowd is not expected to reach that number this weekend and Kildare officials are confident that there will be no issues.
