Council rejects Dublin holiday fund request
The Leinster champions are travelling to South Africa and the County Board had hoped the Provincial Council would make a contribution in the region of 20,000. But that is not the case.
County Board chief executive John Costello said last night: “We are very disappointed with the Leinster Council. Considering the numbers of Dublin fans which attended championship matches during the summer we thought the Leinster Council would make a small acknowledgement.
“It would appear Dublin fans are bankrolling the Leinster Council and that the players these fans come to see in their thousands are forgotten once their run-in the championship comes to an end.”
However, the Leinster Council are sticking to their guns.
“We had this request from both Kildare and from Dublin and it was postponed until our meeting this week,” council secretary Michael Delaney said last night.
“Tommy Lyons had publicly called for 50,000 in the aftermath of the final and this was discussed. However we are sticking to our policy of allocating such funding only in the event of a replay in the championship.
“We did it in the recent past for a drawn semi-final between Kildare and Meath and of course the meetings between Dublin and Meath at the start of 90’s.”
Meanwhile, the Leinster Council will postpone Sunday’s provincial club championship meeting of Rathnew and the Dublin champions, should the capital decider finish level after
extra time on Saturday.
The Dublin final, delayed due to a number of off-field actions, will be played at Parnell Park on Saturday afternoon between UCD and St Vincents. In order to ensure a result on the day, the County Board had opted to play up to two periods of extra time.
However, that tactic will not be necessitated, according to the Leinster Council yesterday.
“In the event of a draw in next Saturday’s Dublin SFC final, comhairle Laighean understands the Dublin County Board will play the normal period of extra time, two 10-minute periods,” a Provincial Body statement said.
“Should the final end level after extra time, the AIB Leinster Club game between Rathnew v UCD/St. Vincent’s will then go back to Sunday 24 November. In the event of this materialising, the semi-final will revert to Sunday, December 1.”
Meanwhile Errigal Ciaran skipper Eoin Gormley will play no part in Sunday’s Ulster Club Championship second replay against Crossmaglen. The former Tyrone attacker suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury in last weekend’s drawn thriller, and is ruled out of part three of a gripping saga.
Errigal will have to find two replacement forwards for the Clones clash, Adrian O’Donnell’s straight red card at Oliver Plunkett Park ruling him out of the rematch.
But Crossmaglen midfielder Anthony Cunningham, sent off along with O’Donnell midway through a gripping second half, will be available to the Armagh champions, as his dismissal was for a second yellow.
“It’s a serious double blow,” said Errrigal manager Mickey Harte. “To lose Eoin and Adrian at the same time, two of our ever-present players this season, is a big setback.
“Eoin’s physical presence and his experience are very important, while Adrian is a very effective link player.”
The impetus appeared to have swung in Errigal’s favour following their two heroic fightbacks to earn replays in what has become an epic championship tie. And despite the latest injury setback, Harte feels the game is there to be won: “Every day is a new day, and even though there were big leads overhauled in both games, there were different trends in each game. I don’t think it’s possible to predict the script, and that’s typical with football. You can predict all you like, but in reality things often pan out very differently. To be honest, I just don’t know what to expect on Sunday. I just know to expect something different than we’ve had before.”
Cork champions Nemo Rangers are the favourites to take the AIB Club Football Championship according to Boylesports bookmakers, who price them at 9/4. Last year’s All-Ireland Champions Ballinderry are priced at 6/1 to retain their title.
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