The Cork senior footballers will not fulfill their semi-final fixture against Kerry in Killarney

The Cork senior footballers say they will not fulfill their Munster championship semi-final fixture against Kerry in Killarney on May 7th.

In a released statement, Cork says they will only play at Pairc Ui Rinn and they have called on the Munster Council’s decision to move the game to be reversed.

As players and management, our sole focus is on preparing and playing to the best of our ability next month in the Munster Championship, representing our families, our clubs, and our county. We did not envisage needing to issue this statement.

Cork and Kerry have long had an agreement in place to decide home and away fixtures. This year’s fixture is a home game for Cork, as initially announced in a press release by Munster GAA on the 4th of March.

We believe the decision made this week by the Munster Council must be reversed.

The decision to take the game to Killarney is driven by the financial benefits resulting from a larger crowd. We feel this reasoning sets a bad precedent, it is wrong and it goes against the values of the Gaelic Athletic Association.

As such, we are preparing for the Munster Football Semi-Final on 7 May 2022 to be played in Páirc Uí Rinn.

We will not be playing the match in any other venue.

Regards,

The Cork Senior Football Players & Management

The match was due to be played in Cork this year, but Pairc Ui Chaoimh is unavailable after an Ed Sheeran concert with the last date occurring on the 29th of April. Sheeran has added four dates to his Ireland trip after huge demand when tickets went on sale last year, with a further two more intimate gigs announced last week.

That prompted the Munster Council to re-fix the game for Killarney, with Pairc Ui Chaoimh to host the next two championship encounters between the sides.

But the Cork footballers and management say the decision to take the game to Killarney is driven by financial benefits resulting from a larger crowd.

They say they are preparing for the semi-final to be played at Pairc Ui Rinn and will not be playing the match in any other venue.

Tune into Scoreline on Saturday to hear Shane and The Angry young man give out about this…while having to play Ed Sheeran’s music.