It's official - Mayo will play Kildare in Newbridge

AFTER days of controversy regarding the venue for next Saturday evening's All-Ireland SFC third round qualifier between Mayo and Kildare, the impasse has come to a conclusion with Newbridge finally decided on as the venue. The game will have a 7 p.m. start.

Since the GAA announced that the game would be played in Croke Park as a double-header with the Cavan versus Tyrone qualifier next Saturday there has been uproar in Kildare as they felt they should have had home advantage after being pulled out of the hat first.

Meanwhile, the GAA had maintained that St. Conleth's Park would not be the venue as it holds only 8,500 and they are anticipating a crowd of 18,000 to 20,000.

Feargal McGill, GAA director of games administration, cited health and safety concerns for the stadium switch and insisted that the game would be awarded to Mayo in the event of a Kildare no-show.

On Monday, Kildare manager Cian O'Neill said they would be turning up in Newbridge on Saturday evening and nowhere else.

It now seems that Kildare have got their way and the game is going ahead in the Newbridge venue on Saturday.

This means tickets will be at a premium for this big game and many supporters are going to be very disappointed - especially Mayo supporters, who always travel in massive numbers to every championship game. It goes without saying that this will be an all-ticket game.