FAI Cup: At last! The May 24 show! - March 14,
2001
The latest suspected case of foot and mouth in Northern Ireland has been given an initial negative test - and that should clear the way for a resumption of soccer in the Republic the weekend after next.
FAI officials will meet civil servants from the Department of Agriculture tomorrow and they will seek Government sanction to play four FAI Cup matches on Saturday and Sunday, March 24 and 25.
And that should pave the way for a resumption of Eircom League fixtures the following weekend.
If the League does resume in early April, it could be completed by the end of May - but any new case of FMD anywhere on the island of Ireland would scupper those plans.
The four FAI Cup games in question are the quarter-finals between Kilkenny and Bohemians, Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers and Cobh Ramblers and Waterford, plus the postponed third-round match between Portmarnock and Dundalk.