The national anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann, is played by the Artane Band prior to the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

GAA director of games administration and player welfare Feargal McGill has said that next year's All-Ireland football final will be held on Sunday September 2nd.

The GAA had initially planned the weekend of August 26 for the final but that date has now been vacated in the event that Pope Francis attends the 2018 World Meeting of Families’ mass in Dublin.

According to John Fogarty of the Irish Examiner, Dublin is hosting the six-day celebration and Croke Park is in line to stage its conclusion. The final will subsequently be held the following weekend with the football decider then set to revert to an August date in 2019, as per the decision taken at Annual Congress earlier this year.

The All-Ireland Hurling final will be held on the weekend of August 19 with the semi-finals set to take place over the August bank holiday weekend (August 4th/5th) in conjunction with the final round of the Super 8's, with the football semi-finals potentially taking place on August 11 and 12.

No dates have been proposed for the provincial senior hurling finals while the Leinster and Munster football finals could be staged on the same Saturday evening or on one Saturday after another.

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