Laois’ O’Moore Park remains firmly in the mix to host Dublin’s first Championship game outside of Croke Park in decade next summer, according to Michael Reynolds, the secretary of Leinster Council.
A mood for change appears to be growing in Leinster regarding Dublin’s effective permanent residence at Croke Park and next year’s provincial draw has thrown up an opportunity to take the All-Ireland champions to a provincial venue.
Dublin most recently played a Championship match outside of Croke Park in 2006, in Longford, and Kilkenny’s spacious Nowlan Park has been touted as the leading contender to host Dublin if they are taken away from Croke Park to play Laois or Wicklow.
Laois are strong favourites to progress beyond Wicklow, though, and would be keen to host Dublin at their ground, O’Moore Park.
The Portlaoise venue has a seating capacity of just 6,000, a figure dwarfed by Nowlan Park’s 17,000, but Reynolds made it clear at yesterday’s launch of the Leinster Club Football Championships at Barretstown Castle that Portlaoise remains a credible alternative.
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The decision will ultimately be taken on November 11, when the details of the 2016 Leinster Championships will be finalised.
“If Laois put it on the table, then the game is in Portlaoise, then of course it is possible,” Reynolds said. “And as it happens, that’s exactly the proposal they had two years ago [for the 2014 Championship], when the fixtures were the same. That was a Laois game we were talking about at the time, too, assuming they beat Wicklow in the first game.”
That proposal from Laois in late 2013 was heavily defeated with just two votes in favour of taking Dublin out of Croke Park, though a clamour for change has been noticeable since.
“It depends on the mood,” Reynolds said of the notion of sending Dublin on a road trip. “I have no idea at this moment. Nobody has been on to the office calling for one thing or another.”
Asked if he sensed that Leinster counties feel that Dublin have an unfair advantage because the majority of their games, both in the league and Championship, are played at the GAA headquarters, Reynolds shook his head.
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“No, no, you talk to fellas and they don’t [say that],” Reynolds said. “Okay, now and again — it would be wrong to say that nobody says it’s unfair.
“But being realistic about it, most people want Croke Park and I know that we make a big deal of this thing, or certainly the media do, about playing in Longford in 2006, but counties don’t come thumping on the table saying, ‘Why is this?’ Croke Park is Mecca.”
Reynolds did note pointedly that there will be a ‘balancing act’ for counties when they consider whether to move Dublin out of Croke Park, claiming that “if counties want grants there will be less money to go around”, as a result of the lower gate receipts at a provincial venue.
He also admitted that, in this situation, a stadium with a mid-range capacity of around 30,000, which has been mooted for several years in the greater Dublin region, would neatly solve the problem.
“In an ideal world, when you have government support, you’d like to examine it,” said Reynolds of the stadium idea. “The venues around Dublin — Parnell Park is fairly restricted, Drogheda is restricted, Newbridge is very restricted and Navan has that space but whether that would suit the needs other than for Meath, that’s another day’s work.
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“But I don’t think so at the moment, I am certainly not picking up a mood to pursue a new stadium. This game might focus some minds but, as we speak, there isn’t [much demand for a new stadium development].”
Meanwhile, Reynolds has rejected the Gaelic Players Association’s proposal for Championship reform, describing it as unfeasible to run off the Leinster Football Championship in six weeks or less, as suggested by the GPA.
He also revealed his frustration with the popular opinion that the provincial councils are the principal obstacle to an apparent desire to break up the provincial championships and move to an alternative structure.
“I think it’s a myth that the provincial councils are as powerful as people think they are,” Reynolds said. “The provincial councils are actually the counties, so it’s the counties that decide. We take our lead from the counties. So if there is no appetite in the counties, there is no point in turning on us and saying, ‘Well, Leinster Council are against this or for that’, if it’s actually the counties saying, ‘Lads, forget it’.”