’Haven walk into Munster semi-finals

CORK football champions Castlehaven are through to the Munster Club semi-final and a meeting with An Ghaeltacht in Killorglin on Sunday week without kicking a ball.

The ’Haven were due to meet the Waterford champions in the first round on November 16 but the Decies will be unable to meet that deadline and as a consequence must forfeit participation in the competition.

Tramore qualified for the county final last Sunday for the first time since 1985 but they will have to wait until November 23 for that decider against the winners of the second semi-final between defending champions Stradbally and the Nire which will be played in Dungarvan on Sunday week.

To Castlehaven’s credit, they were prepared to facilitate Waterford in every way they reasonably could, but with the Munster Council insistent that their championship dates be adhered to (unless in exceptional circumstances) the provincial campaign will now be played without Waterford representation.

A senior County Board member yesterday described the situation as “an acute embarrassment” for Waterford and said it is the culmination of decisions earlier in the domestic season to grant postponements without justification.

“The chickens,” he added, “have finally come home to roost.”

Meanwhile, Waterford hurling champions, Mount Sion or Ballygunner, who meet next Sunday in the county final, are due to travel to Limerick on November 9 to play Patrickswell in the Munster semi-final.

However, if the Deise decider ends in a draw at Walsh Park then further complications will inevitably arise as far as the provincial campaign is concerned.

It would mean that the replay would have to go ahead on the following Saturday, with the winners in action again 24 hours later against the Limerick champions.

A similar situation occurred in the 1990s involving Ballygunner, who had to journey to Ennis to play the Clare champions the day after their own county final victory.

Not at all surprisingly they suffered a heavy defeat.

With the exception of the history-making U21 footballers, Waterford failed to reach the All-Ireland stage in any of the other grades this year and that makes the major hold-ups in both senior domestic championships all the more difficult to understand.