2018 is due to be the year that the All-Ireland finals are moved to August. At GAA Congress in February a motion was passed switching both the hurling and football deciders to August.
The new dates are going to be trialled over three years in an attempt to make the inter-county fixture schedule more friendly towards the club game. It will be a major change to the now traditional first Sunday in September date for the hurling final and third Sunday for the football final. Kings of September no more.
However, according to Colm Keys in today's Irish Independent, a spanner has been thrown into the works - a papal one.
Pope Francis is lined up to visit Ireland next year, the first time a Pope has visited here since Pope John Paul II in 1979. It is thought that a Mass will be held on August 26th, the same date which is pencilled in for the 2018 All-Ireland football final.
If Croke Park is confirmed as the venue for the Mass, a possibility to which the GAA is apparently amenable - five years ago the stadium hosted the Eucharistic Congress with 80,000 attending - it could mean the All-Ireland football final being played a week later than originally scheduled on September 2nd.
