Mayo request league final to be brought forward due to tight provincial turnaround

Muireann Duffy

The Mayo footballers have requested that the National Football League's Division 1 final be played one day ahead of schedule due to concerns over the short turnaround before the start of the provincial championship the following weekend.

This year's football league finals will be played on the first weekend of April. The normal practice is that the Division 3 and 4 finals are held on Saturday April 1st, followed by the Division 1 and 2 deciders on Sunday, April 2nd.

Sitting top of the table, Mayo have already secured their place in the Division 1 final, while the second slot remains up for grabs going into the last round of fixtures this weekend.

Galway and Kerry, who meet in Pearse Stadium this Sunday, are both in contention for the second place in the final, as are Tyrone and Roscommon, who play Armagh and Donegal respectively in the last round.

As reported by the Irish Examiner, requests for games to be played on specific dates must be made by the Mayo County Board, but player representatives from the county have also written to the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) asking for the Division 1 final to be played on Saturday, April 1st.

The move would give Mayo an extra day to recover before they kick off their provincial campaign, facing Roscommon in the Connacht Senior Football quarter-final on Sunday, April 9th.

The game against Roscommon will be Mayo's fourth game in four weekends, or seventh game in the space of eight weekends.

Mayo's request follows a proposal by the CCCC last year, which was endorsed by the Gaelic Players Association (GPA), for the league finals to be scrapped in favour of the titles being decided by table position at the end of the group stages in order to allow for more time between competitions. However, the GAA's Central Council rejected the recommendation.