TYRONE captain Kieran McGeary has hit out at GAA fixture chiefs for not scheduling their All-Ireland Football Championship U21 final for Croke Park.
Instead, the Ulster champions will take on surprise packets Tipperary at nearby Parnell Park this Saturday evening.
The game was initially pencilled in for Meath's Pairc Tailteann though floodlight issues at the Navan venue forced a change of venue.
Defender McGeary claimed that the decider deserves to be at the home of Gaelic games which isn't being used this weekend.
"It's an All-Ireland final, teams don't get there that often and players might never get to one again," said McGeary.
"For me, I'd prefer to play it in the likes of Croke Park, that's why the stadium is there and I'd imagine both sets of players and management would totally agree to Croke Park on the big day. It's where you want to be."
Several of the present U21 side were involved in the 2013 All-Ireland minor decider though McGeary agreed that many have also never played at Croke Park and would have relished the opportunity.
"Aye, that's true and maybe it's something that has to be taken into consideration in future," he said. "Croke Park is where every lad wants to be. Growing up you dream of being out on the green of Croke Park in games like this. But it is what it is and it's obviously not going to change at this stage."
Tipperary may be unlikely final opponents though Tyrone themselves were underdogs heading into their own semi-final tie with Roscommon. As it turned out, they never looked like being beaten in the contest and maintained a comfortable lead over the Connacht outfit throughout the second-half before pulling away for a five-point win.
McGeary admitted that being written off before the encounter was helpful.
"It was definitely good to beat Roscommon because I suppose everyone would have thought that we were going to get beaten in that game," he said. "Honestly, that never entered our minds. We just went out and played the game we can play and I think we showed greater hunger all over the field."
The progression didn't come as any surprise to those who know the make up of this Tyrone U21 side.
"The minor side we were in got to an Ulster final and was beaten in the All-Ireland quarter-final, the minors got to the All-Ireland final the following year," said McGeary.
"So that age group have all come together now. It's a very professional group and we feel that we are surrounded by winners. As Feargal Logan said, if there are any issues on the pitch, we sort them out ourselves so there's a degree of maturity there."
Tyrone will be aware that, outside of the Red Hand county, the vast majority of the country will be rooting for Tipperary. The emergence of Tipp in recent years has caught the public's imagination and many of their players are aiming for an impressive double of minor and U21 All-Ireland wins.
McGeary said that Tyrone have done plenty of homework on Tommy Toomey's side, who overcome holders Dublin in the semi-finals.
"They tick all the boxes," said McGeary of Tipp. "They're physical, they have great skill up front and their defenders are very tight. They really do tick all the boxes and we realise that. We have to figure out ways of unpicking those boxes to get over the line but it won't be for a lack of effort."