Dublin GAA and Leinster Council row deepens

THE simmering row between Dublin GAA and the Leinster Council has escalated on the eve of today’s Congress in Belfast.

Dublin secretary John Costello yesterday called for Leinster council chairman Nicky Brennan to resign.

Costello said he may call for a vote of no confidence in the Leinster chairman after the Leinster council again refused to allow Dublin chairman John Bailey to co-chair the committee that will implement the findings of the Strategic Review Committee (SRC).

In doing so, the Leinster council also refused to ratify their own chairman as co-chair of that committee, as Dublin’s proposal was that both Brennan and Bailey should chair the committee.

Currently, Dublin do not have any sitting delegates on the management committee of the Leinster council, despite being the largest county in the province.

“A great opportunity has been lost with the delegates refusing this proposal,” said Costello.

“And this is a deep insult to loyal Dublin supporters who put so much money into the Leinster council coffers every year.”

In a statement issued yesterday, Dublin County Board wished to acknowledged the massive contribution Sean McCague has made to the GAA over the past three years, and the county thanked him sincerely for his help.

“The board appreciate the work of Sean McCague in the development of the SRC for Dublin,” they stated.

While neither party would make any comment on the matter it is understood the Dublin County Board are deeply aggrieved at the slight by the Leinster council.

Dublin had agreed to Bailey and Brennan co-chairing the management committee as a compromise when the Leinster council wanted an independent party at the helm.

Whoever chairs the committee will be in charge of the annual €4.5 million budget earmarked for Dublin GAA.

Earlier in the week, Dublin County Board said they were considering all their options, including pulling any county teams out of the Leinster championship.

Meanwhile, the Allianz NFL Division 1 semi-finals between Fermanagh and Tyrone, and Laois and Armagh will both be played at Croke Park on Sunday April 20.

The games will be shown live on TG4 with the all-Ulster game getting underway at 2pm.

The Armagh v Laois tie begins at 3.40pm.

The Division Two semi-final between Westmeath and Longford will take place in Hyde Park, Roscommon, on the same day with a 3.15pm throw-in.

The second Division Two semi-final between Limerick and Wexford will be played in Portlaoise on Easter Monday (April 21) at 3.30pm.

The GAC has confirmed that the controversial meeting of Sligo and Kildare has been re-fixed for Easter Sunday (April 20) in Markievicz Park at 3.30pm, while the Allianz Hurling league Division One game between Laois and Limerick has been brought forward to Saturday April 19.

Because of the involvement of Laois and Wexford in the knock-out stages of Divisions One and Two of the Allianz NFL it has been decided to defer the Leinster SFC game between these two counties from Sunday May 4 to Sunday May 11.

This now means there are three Leinster SFC ties scheduled for this date:

Laois v Wexford, Westmeath v Carlow and Louth v Wicklow.

All three games will be played in Croke Park on that date.

Times and order of games will be decided by Leinster GAC at a later date.