BBC SPORT | NORTHERN IRELAND | AIL fixtures get Saturday go-ahead

Saturday's AlB All-Ireland League rugby matches will go ahead despite the confirmation of the first foot-and-mouth case in the Republic.

An Irish Rugby Football Union statement said that the organisation had been told by the Republic's Department of Agriculture that games could resume this weekend.

The IRFU announcement followed an admission by Irish Minister for Agriculture, Joe Walsh that he didn't rule out the possibility of weekend fixtures going ahead.

Thursday evening's IRFU statement urged all clubs and schools to take appropriate disinfectant measures.

The GAA reacted quickly to the rugby announcement by confirming that the Sigerson Cup quarter-finals would go ahead on Saturday.

Other Irish sporting bodies are expected to follow suit with their fixtures.

The Sigerson quarter-finals, include the double-header at Clones involving Ulster hopefuls St Mary's College and UUJ.

GAA president Sean McCague
Sean McCague had expressed deep dismay

Jordanstown face NUI Galway (1330 GMT) while St Mary's Belfast will tackle Trinity (1500).

The first foot-and-mouth case in the Republic was confirmed at a sheep farm in Co Louth on Thursday morning.

The farm is just few miles from the location in Co Armagh, where Northern Ireland's sole case of the disease was detected last month.

As news of the confirmed case emerged, GAA authorities called off Thursday's Ulster Bank Vocational Schools final between Monaghan and Cavan at Clones.

For most of Thursday afternoon, it seemed likely that most sporting fixtures scheduled for this weekend in the Republic would be called off.

But then came the surprise IRFU announcement.

North of the border, schools officials are hoping that the GAA MacRory Cup final and the Ulster Schools' Rugby Cup can be staged on 2 April.

Ireland Lloyds TSB Six Nations has already been thrown into disarray by the spread of the disease.

Hopes that Ireland will be able to complete their Six Nations campaign this season now seem extremely remote despite the decision to go ahead with this weekend's club matches.

If our event doesn't take place on 19 May I can't see it happening later in the year

North West 200 official Mervyn Whyte

It is unlikely the Irish Horseracing Authority will be able to proceed with the planned resumption of racing at Leopardstown and Cork on 14 April (Easter Saturday).

However, the Punchestown National Hunt Festival in late April is still on even though the Three-Day Event meeting at the same venue scheduled for 17/20 May has also been postponed.

Organisers hope to stage the three-day event meeting later in the year.

The Tandragee 100 motorcycle meeting scheduled for 5 May has also been postponed because of the crisis.

The Tandragee postponement will lead to increased doubts about the Northern Ireland's showpiece motorcycle meeting, the North-West 200 scheduled for 19 May.

North-West Clerk of the Course Mervyn Whyte told BBC that he was concerned about the latest foot-and-mouth developments.

He also said that it was unlikely that the event could be re-scheduled for later in the year.

"If our event doesn't take place on 19 May I can't see it happening later in the year because of the difficulty in getting a suitable date with all the other big events.

"We wouldn't want to run a sub-standard event," added White.


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