Council rap for Waterford board
Though the Council agreed to a joint request made by Mount Sion and Ballygunner to defer their provincial club SHC semi-final against Patrickswell for one week, after last week’s county final finished in a draw, officials were unimpressed with the situation which was allowed to develop.
Representatives of both clubs had indicated that they were not prepared to play the Limerick champions 24 hours after their county final replay on Saturday.
Munster Council chairman Christy Cooney said: “the only reason the Council has agreed to put the game back a week is because the London championship would not be ready by the deadline of November 30, the date set for the All-Ireland quarter-final against our champions”.
“The delay in completing the Waterford SHC is no fault of the Munster Council”, said Mr. Cooney, “and that has been conveyed to their officials in no uncertain manner.
“Already we have had to rule their County football champions out of the Munster Club because they had failed to have their champions known by the required date.
“The Council has expressed their views very forcibly to the Waterford County Board on this matter. Their SHC winners are very fortunate in that Sunday, November 30 has become available for the final allowing us to defer the provincial semi-final to November 16.
“Had we not got dates to play around with there was every chance that the Waterford hurling champions would have suffered the same fate as their football counterparts”.
Meanwhile, the Leinster team to play Connacht in Saturday’s Railway Cup hurling final is unchanged from the one that trounced Ulster in the semi-final.
In an effort to raise the profile of the competition, this year’s final is being played at the Giulio Onesti Stadium in Rome.
While Leinster had little trouble in disposing of Ulster, the northern province, under Dinny Cahill, made a determined effort to beat Leinster for the first time in 25 years.
The second semi-final involving Connacht (all Galway selection) and Munster was a far closer affair with the westerners edging out their opponents by four points. Both sides honoured the competition by fielding full strength teams.
Elsewhere, An Ghaeltacht will be at full strength for Sunday’s Munster Club SFC semi-final clash with Castlehaven (Cork) at Fitzgerald Stadium.
This will be the Kerry champions second venture into the provincial championship. In 2001 they failed to Nemo Rangers by a point in a thrilling semi-final at Pairc Uí Chaoimh, where only the thickness of the crossbar denied them victory.
Ted Owens could make a dramatic return to the inter-county scene - as a Cork senior football selector.
As newly appointed coach Billy Morgan puts the final touches to his selection committee for the next two years, Owens’ name is being bandied about as a possible member of the new five-man selection committee.
Others topping the list are former full-back Colman Corrigan, Ger O’Sullivan of Dromtarriffe and Tim O’Callaghan of Clyda Rovers. New county champions Castlehaven have yet to announce their nominee.
A staunch member of St. Nick, Owens was physical trainer to the Cork senior football team in 1978 and subsequently acted as minor coach. But it was his involvement as trainer of the Cork senior hurling team in latter years that brought him to the forefront.
He acted as trainer during Jimmy Barry-Murphy's stewardship, which culminated in All-Ireland victory over Kilkenny in 1999. After Barry-Murphy stepped down, to be succeeded by Bertie Óg Murphy in 2001, Owens remained as trainer.
But after the players dispute, which led to Murphy’s resignation after a year at the helm, Owens also vacated his post, citing personal reasons for doing so.
County champions Castlehaven have not yet debated the issue of who they will be putting forward as their selector. But two names being mentioned are Jim Nolan, who coached Haven to senior success in 1994, and former All-Ireland medal winner John Cleary.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
