ALL-IRELAND hurling champions Tipperary are due in Belfast next weekend to play a tribute match to the late Fr Alec Reid.
The Tipperary-born Redemptorist priest, who died in November 2013, was credited with playing a critical role in the peace process.
Amongst his many interventions, he secretly acted as a conduit between the SDLP and Sinn Féin, helping to facilitate talks between John Hume and Gerry Adams in Clonard Monastery, where he ministered for four decades.
A keen hurler, Fr Reid was part of the Tipperary minor team that captured the All-Ireland title in 1949.
On Saturday, Tipperary's current hurlers will hold a training session at Woodlands Pitches on Finaghy Road North at 2pm.
Following the training session, a special match between children from the North Antrim and Belfast regions of the Antrim Allianz Cumann na mBunscol will take place for the Fr Alec Reid trophy.
On Sunday, three commemorative plaques in memory of Fr Reid will be presented at the 9.30am Mass at Clonard Monastery.
One of the plaques will be presented to Clonard Monastery, another will be held in reserve to be placed in the redeveloped Casement Park while the final plaque will be brought back to Tipperary.
At 12.30pm, the weekend of tribute events will conclude with Antrim's senior hurlers facing Tipperary in a challenge game in Corrigan Park in west Belfast.
