Cavan set to probe Oxegen claims

CAVAN GAA chiefs are set to investigate claims members of the county senior football squad attended the Oxegen music festival the night before they exited the All-Ireland qualifier series against Wicklow.

There has been speculation in the county since their Round 2 qualifier loss on July 11 that some Cavan players went to the concerts in Punchestown, Kildare on Friday July 10, before travelling to Aughrim the following day for the qualifier game.

The match proved a major disappointment for Cavan as they crashed to a 1-12 to 0-8 defeat ending their interest in this year’s championship.

Cavan PRO Mark Gillick insists that ‘serious questions’ will now have to be asked of these players.

“To be truthful about it, to the best of my knowledge, two or three of the squad were at Oxegen the night before the game in Aughrim. A lot of rumours have flown around. I heard it last Sunday evening and again last Monday and the team manager only heard it for the first time last Monday. We discussed it at the meeting and now serious questions will have to be asked of these players who thought it was okay to go to Oxegen. Officers of Cavan County Board had their management meeting last Wednesday night and it was discussed at it.”

Gillick, who was speaking last Friday on the Northern Sound radio station, did scotch rumours that the Cavan team bus had travelled via Punchestown on the day of the game to collect the players.

“One rumour I can dispel is that the bus did not go via Punchestown to collect them. All the players arrived on the bus to Aughrim with the Dublin players collected in Templeogue on the way down. What I can also dispel is that the team manager has been asked about it and he did not know that any of the players were at the Oxegen festival the night before.”

The matter is set to come up for discussion at a potentially explosive meeting of the Cavan County Board in the Kilmore Hotel in Cavan town tonight. The position of county boss Tommy Carr is also set to be debated as it’s believed that at least five clubs will table a motion of no confidence in his tenure. Carr has only been in charge for nine months but Cavan struggled in Division 3 of the NFL and were knocked out of the Ulster championship and All-Ireland qualifiers by Division 4 sides Antrim and Wicklow respectively. The pressure on Carr has grown since forward Jason O’Reilly predicted earlier this month that Carr would not be in charge for a second year.