2017 Galway U21 final to be played a year behind schedule
The 2017 Galway U21 hurling final takes place on Saturday, as poor fixture-planning and a condensed calendar has resulted in the competition running 12 months behind schedule.
Having failed to run off their U21 championship by the end of 2017, Galway County Board officials decided to shelve the competition until October of this year. Knockout games continued into November, with the 2017 county semi-finals taking place at the beginning of this month.
The decider features Turloughmore and Liam Mellows, with several members of the Turloughmore team also part of the club’s 2018 U21 side which last weekend progressed to the 2018 Galway U21 A1 (second tier) final. That game is fixed for Sunday, January 13.
The semi-finals of the 2018 Galway U21 A hurling championship are set for this weekend also and so it is likely that the 2018 champions will not be crowned until 2019.
The 2017 Galway U21 B hurling championship was another competition which ran behind schedule and was not completed until November 25 of this year. A key factor in the 2017 U21 championships overrunning was the decision, favoured by clubs, not to start these competitions in spring as had always been the case.
Elsewhere, Munster senior club football champions Dr Crokes are facing the prospect of having to play two games in three days should they overcome Gneeveguilla in Friday’s East Kerry quarter-final (7.30pm). The semi-final against Rathmore is fixed for Sunday (2pm). Should Pat O’Shea’s charges reach the divisional championship semi-final, it would represent their fourth game in 13 days.
