Donegal hit back in row over fixtures

DONEGAL GAA chiefs last night expressed annoyance with the Games Administration Committee and claimed they were vilified by last week’s fixture row with Longford.

Officials from the Ulster Council meet Croke Park bosses on Saturday to discuss the circumstances which led to the postponement of the NFL Division 2A Round Three tie.

Donegal County Board issued a statement last night, outlining their grievances.

“The fixture schedule presented to Donegal officers at a meeting of the Games Administration Committee last November indicated clearly that Donegal had home matches against Leitrim, Longford and Limerick and would travel to play Carlow, London, Clare and Roscommon.

“There has never been a precedent in the revamped Allianz football leagues whereby a county has been asked to play five matches away from home out of seven fixtures.

“The official fixtures booklet also indicated that Donegal would play Longford at home and the county board subsequently made arrangements in early January, to play this game in MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey on Sunday, March 5th.

“It was with no small degree of surprise that the county board chairman, Charlie O’Donnell, heard on Monday evening last (February 27th) that Longford were also planning for a home game. Donegal officials were then asked to play at a neutral venue at very short notice, a request which was viewed as totally unreasonable given that plans were already in motion for staging the game in MacCumhaill Park that Sunday.

“Given that the GAC is the only authority on fixtures, it is fair to assume that the Donegal County Board did not act or behave unreasonably in insisting the game go ahead in MacCumhaill Park. It is not the remit of the county board to randomly arrange to play inter-county fixtures at neutral venues.

While we realise that this season stands to be the fourth consecutive occasion on which Longford have had three home matches and four away, this does not in any way, make it acceptable for the GAC to deprive Donegal of an important home fixture. Such a situation would see Longford with four home matches and Donegal with two, this does not constitute fair play in any language.

Contrary to popular myth, Donegal were drawn to play London away from home and did not make any formal request for such an arrangement.

“We are annoyed at our treatment at the hands of the GAC and subsequent vilification, the ramifications of the postponement of this game means that even at this early stage of the season, club fixtures will be upset in Donegal.”

Meanwhile, officials at top Tyrone club Carrickmore have hit back at claims that they treated the county’s senior hurlers as second class citizens.

A row erupted following a fixtures clash at the club’s ground 10 days ago.

Following a brief stand-off, the situation was resolved when Tyrone’s NHL clash with Cavan went ahead on the training pitch. The main pitch, which had been closed for improvement work, was hastily brought back into service to host Carrickmore’s Ulster Football League game against Down side Kilcoo.

A statement from the Carrickmore club insisted that its facilities have always been made available for GAA activities, and that it has never discriminated between football and hurling.

“It is being suggested in some quarters that the club treated the hurlers as ‘second class citizens’ by offering our lower pitch as the venue for their game.

“In fact, this was the only pitch we have had available for any fixture since the close of last season. Our upper pitch has undergone some re-sodding works late last year and was closed until the end of April 2006,” said the statement.

“We reluctantly used the upper pitch, for the Ulster League fixture, to avoid disappointing our guests from Kilcoo and we accept that as a result we have compromised the remedial work carried out on it.

“The upper pitch had not been prepared for a fixture. It was not lined and neither nets nor sideline flags were in place. We took the decision to use it only as a very last resort.”

The statement added that it is a matter of record that the Carrickmore club has always made all of its facilities available to the wide spectrum of GAA activities.

“We never have, and never would, discriminate between football and hurling.

“We refute vigorously the suggestion that we treated fellow Gaels in a second class way.