St. Brendan's Park won't be seeing any inter-county hurling action for a long time again, it would appear.

Last month, Offaly played Carlow in the Leinster MHC in what many regard as the spiritual home of hurling in the Faithful County after the game was moved from O'Connor Park because it had hosted the two All-Ireland U21FC semi-finals on the same day.

However, Offaly's next game against Dublin was switched back to O'Connor Park, despite a request from the team management to have it played in Birr.

Addressing delegates at the May meeting of the county board, Offaly chairman Padraig Boland explained that Leinster Council has full control over the fixing of championship games within the province, and that it usually insists on fixing games for the county ground.

The reason for this is because of the better facilities county grounds' boast, and to prevent county boards from fixing games at inferior venues which may inconvenience the visiting team. Tweet

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