Kevin O'Donovan fully confident that SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh can cater for busy October week

Cork County Board secretary/CEO Kevin O’Donovan has no doubts about SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh’s ability to hold the Munster-Racing 92 Investec Cup game the night before the Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC final.

While previous rugby fixtures at the venue had avoided clashes with GAA games, the scheduling of the European tie for Saturday, October 17 raised questions, given that that that weekend has housed county hurling finals in recent years.

The calendar could get even busier – the Munster fixture will be rubber-stamped at the GAA’s Central Council meeting on August 1, when the hosting of Republic of Ireland v Kazakhstan women’s international in Cork on Tuesday, October 13 will also be discussed.

In such a scenario, county Premier SFC semi-finals the previous weekend could be held on the Saturday night rather than Sunday.

“We’ll have Munster Rugby on the Saturday and the county hurling finals on the Sunday,” he said.

“That’s without the Barrs or Newcestown or something like that, and Cork don’t have the four weeks at the back like we did the last two years, because we didn’t reach the All-Ireland hurling final.

“The Munster Rugby/senior hurling clash has been signed off by the county CCC on a fixture basis, by Richad Murphy on an event-control basis – can I have the stadium ready 12 hours later? - and by Colm Daly on a pitch basis – can you have that pitch lined and ready to go?

“Those three entities, you can’t have a match without the three of them, it can’t function. That’s why it was all absolutely buttoned down last week.”

Another matter to be buttoned down in due course is county minor and U20 managerial appointments.

The two-year terms of Noel Furlong (U20 hurling) and Keith Ricken (minor football) have concluded, while Donal Mulcahy had a one-year term as minor hurling boss.

O’Donovan is keeping an open mind with regard to the situation and what might materialise.

“Ray Keane is in year one of a two-year term and the other three under-age appointments are up,” he said.

“Everything will be looked at. All of our appointments are on a given term and we’ll be discussing all aspects.

“It's a communal, positive, joint decision made on all of this – it’s not adversarial. The guys involved at the under-age level have no egos, they just want to help.”