Laois club and inter-county fixtures are on a collision course as the county board issued its revised schedule.
With the Government restrictions in Laois, Kildare and Offaly costing the three counties three weekends in terms of GAA fixtures, Laois have had to push the latter stages of their Championships back on top of the resumption of the Allianz Football Leagues.
Similar to Offaly, they are opting to fix the games that didn’t go ahead last weekend from Monday, August 24 to Wednesday, August 26, unless the restrictions are lifted before then.
Initially, the senior hurling final was supposed to be played on the weekend of September 27/28 with the football decider a week later, though they have been moved deep into October now - and possibly even later.
The senior football semi-finals have been provisionally set for October 18 - the same day that Laois are due to resume their Allianz Football League Division Two campaign against Westmeath.
The final is down for the following weekend, albeit still to be confirmed, when Laois round out the campaign against Fermanagh, though the possibility of completing the club competitions once Laois’s Championship interest is at an end is also being floated.
The GAA ruled that the current window for club games would only run until October 11 though Laois will presumably seek a dispensation given the unique circumstances, while Laois Today has reported that county secretary Niall Handy has already asked Croke Park as to the possibility of not fulfilling their last two Allianz Football League games.
That would be a big call on Laois’s part, given that they sit in mid-table in Division Two and could yet be promoted or relegated.
The Laois hurling final has now been fixed for October 11, but that’s less than ideal for the county’s senior hurling manager, Eddie Brennan, as his charges are due to face Dublin in the Leinster quarter-final just a fortnight later.
