Erin's Own fume over ban and €2,500 fine

ERIN'S OWN have been formally notified of their ejection from Cork's SHC following their failure to fulfil the quarter final tie with Newtownshandrum.

Tomorrow night's Cork Co. Board meeting will hear details of the GAC decision to throw the club out of the Championship, and fine it €2,500 for not fulfilling the original fixture.

Erin's Own chairman Eoghan O'Connor confirmed last night: "We received a letter from the GAC stating that we have been dismissed from the championship and fined €2,500. It's hugely disappointing news for everyone in the club, particularly the management and players."

The Newtownshandrum game was originally fixed for August 21st, but Erin's Own sought a postponement on the grounds that two of their Cork players, Brian Corcoran and Kieran Murphy, had been injured on inter-county duty in the All-Ireland semi-final against Clare the previous Sunday.

When the matter went to a vote at County Board, the Erin's Own plea for a postponement received a lot of support but not the two-thirds majority required for the game to be rescheduled.

The club then called an egm and decided they would be unable to fulfil the fixture because of the injury situation.

Efforts have been made to resolve the problem without success. It's understood that the players, including All-Star Corcoran, fully support the club's stand.

Comparisons have been made with a similar case involving the Galbally GAA club in Tyrone.

Earlier this season, they refused to fulfil a county championship fixture as one of their players had played for Tyrone in the drawn All-Ireland quarter-final with Dublin only five days earlier.

The club was thrown out of the competition by the Tyrone GAC. The Ulster Council upheld the decision on appeal but the Tyrone GAC then reversed its own decision and allowed Galbally back into the competition, a decision felt within the county to be in keeping with the spirit, if not the letter, of the law.

An appeal to the Munster Council is not an option for Erin's Own, but the club will meet tonight to determine its response to the GAC decision.

"The players are devastated," said O'Connor, "particularly for Kieran Murphy and Brian Corcoran, who couldn't play because of injuries they picked up playing for Cork."

Also, there's been a lot of talk of a three in a row in 2006, and the decision rules Brian out as a possible captain of Cork next year.

"The inter-county lads feel they've let down the other panellists, that they've basically been penalised for playing with Cork."

The chairman was also unhappy with the hefty fine imposed by the GAC and pointed out the financial realities for GAA clubs in the twenty-first century.

"In Caherlag we've spent €2m on the club and we have 700 members in the county draw who have come up with €35,000 income for the board this year. We've contributed over €100,000 in that way to the board each year for the last few years, even though our own ground development has put us €200,000 in debt.

"In that context a €2,500 fine is very severe. We have major plans for schools development and we've delve and sanctioned expenditure of €20,000 on that, but now we're just losing €2,500 just like that."

Although O'Connor feels he and his club are "at the eleventh hour," he's still hopeful of a gesture of support from their original opponents.

"In view of the great boost that hurling got last Sunday week, I'd appeal to Newtownshandrum - and I know many of them want to - to request the game be played even at this late stage.

"A gesture from Newtown would give us renewed hope at this point."