Kevin McStay: Friday fixtures could be a scheduling solution

On almost any other Saturday, the Leinster and Munster SFC finals would dominate the sports landscape.

However, with Leinster and La Rochelle locking horns in a battle to secure European club rugby's biggest prize, and Liverpool and Real Madrid clashing in the Champions League final, only the staunchest of GAA fans would posit such an argument ahead of a day of action to savour.

Those at GAA headquarters have become a little too accustomed to criticism of their scheduling plans, with Kevin McStay weighing in on the debate on the RTÉ GAA Podcast, but the Mayo man also offered up a possible solution to elongate the weekend window for the under-fire fixture planners.

"It's it's not RTÉ's job to promote any of these championships," McStay said. "They broadcast them to the very best of their ability, but the push from Croke Park hasn't been what it should be, what it must be."

The analyst added: "What's happened this weekend is shocking... I was thinking my own personal logistics, trying to get out of Killarney at about 20 to five, race down the road, and either get back to the hotel or get to a pub to see the Leinster final.

"And then I was thinking, they probably won't have the Leinster final on in Killarney, they'll have the rugby final on."

With an eye on future plans for season to come, the former Roscommon boss said: "We're surely heading towards the debate about major matches on a Friday night.

"How that might be done, I don't really know, but if you're going to play four championship finals in the one weekend, you're probably either stretching it out from Friday to Sunday or Saturday to a bank holiday Monday."

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