Monday, June 25th
8:35 am - The third round football qualifiers draw takes place on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland. Kildare are drawn at home to Mayo in the presence of GAA president, John Horan, and director of games administration, Feargal McGill.
Shortly after draw - Kildare county board contacts Newbridge Garda Síochána regarding the scheduling of the fixture at St. Conleth's Park. The Gardaí are happy for the game to go ahead on Saturday, June 30th. They request a 7 pm throw-in due to the Irish Derby taking place at the Curragh earlier in the evening.
??:?? - Email sent to CCCC informing that Kildare GAA would have no difficulty hosting the fixture as an all-ticket event at St. Conleth's Park and that plans are being put in place to do so.
??:?? - Kildare GAA asked by CCCC to provide an alternative venue for the game. The county board declines the invitation.
1:35 pm - GAA announces that Kildare vs Mayo will be part of a double header at Croke Park along with Cavan vs Tyrone.
1:49 pm - Leinster Leader sports editor Tommy Callaghan reports that Kildare are refusing to play the game at Croke Park and will only play it at their home ground of St. Conleth's Park in Newbridge.
UPDATE: Kildare reportedly refusing to move to Croke Park https://t.co/dPUyIeHqww
— Tommy Callaghan (@TommyCallaghan1) June 25, 2018
6:33 pm - Kildare issue statement outlining a timeline of events so far and confirming they will only play the game in Newbridge.
6:40 pm - Irish Times publishes quotes from Fergal McGill stating that if Kildare do not show up for the game at Croke Park, Mayo will be awarded the game.
We fully appreciate where Kildare are coming from. We don’t take home venue off of a team lightly. However, health and safety has to come first. It’s that simple. The last thing we wanted to do was take this out of Newbridge, but we simply had no choice. There is no room for manoeuvre, not when it comes to health and safety. If Kildare don’t show up in Croke Park on Saturday at 7.0pm the game will be awarded to Mayo.
6:50 pm - Kildare manager Cian O'Neill appears live on the RTÉ Six One News to reiterate the county's stance.
Kildare manager Cian O'Neill tells RTÉ his players will be in Newbridge on Saturday evening, not Croke Park pic.twitter.com/2qxU3cqBKf
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) June 25, 2018
Tuesday, June 26th
8 am - Ned Quinn, chairman of the Central Competitions Control Committee, appears on OTB AM in an attempt to clarify why Kildare have been denied their request to host the game in Newbridge.
He fails, muddies the waters further and even causes offence by suggesting that there could be "animosity" between opposing supporters who have tickets and those who do not if the game was played in Newbridge.
Quinn says that the CCCC's main motivation in moving the game to Croke Park was to ensure that as many supporters as possible would be able to attend the game.
10 am - Cian O'Neill cements Kildare's position in an interview on KFM. He also says that the Kildare panel is fully behind the county board's stance.
11:30 am - Kildare PRO Christine Murray announces via email that Cian O'Neill will hold a press conference in relation to the Mayo game at the Kildare GAA Centre of Excellence at 5 pm.
1:45 pm - Kildare GAA cancels the press conference saying: "Unfortunately due to work commitments in Cork, Kildare Senior Football Manager Cian O'Neill is unable to attend the press conference scheduled for this evening and we now have to cancel this event. There will be no further comment made at this present time."
2:36 pm - The Leinster Leader reports that the Kildare county board has informed the GAA that they will not fulfil this weekend's fixture against Mayo.
Wednesday June 27th
11:05 am - KFM's Clem Ryan reports that: "Indications are that the game will be in Newbridge. Informed speculation telling KFM that a deal might be in the offing and that would be configured around the game being played in Newbridge on either Saturday at seven or indeed it could be a Sunday fixture."
11:20 am - RTÉ reports that the game will be played in Newbridge.
Picture credit: Sportsfile
