RTE is not 'up for' the replay

THIS is what happens when All-Ireland finals go to replays -- contingency plans get flung out the window.

We've heard yarns about relations of Galway players flying home from Australia for the All-Ireland final (instead of coming back for Christmas) but returning to Oz in a state of jet-lagged limbo after the tie finished in well ... a tie.

Brian Cody said there had been no problems with regard to players changing work holidays and that sort of stuff but Michael Fennelly confirmed that Kilkenny have been training earlier than usual, just to make sure the entirety of their sessions are conducted in daylight.

Someone, though, will lift the Liam MacCarthy on Sunday (hopefully) and by virtue of the minor match between Dublin and Tipperary going to a replay, All-Ireland final day look and feel the same as any other All-Ireland final Sunday.

And yet, and yet, and yet ... .

There will be one glaring absence from this weekend, one which we hope doesn't dilute the pleasure and joy whichever of the teams should happen to go and win the thing on Sunday.

There will, sadly, be no 'Up For The Match' on RTÉ on the Saturday night before the game.

Des Cahill confirmed as much on Twitter yesterday: "For everyone asking -- No, there is no Up For The Match programme this weekend," he announced to the sombreness of a nation.