Players clear way for Meath final

PLAYER power has prevailed in Meath and brought an end to the row between SFC holders Navan O’Mahony’s and Wolfe Tones.

Sunday’s scheduled final between Tones and Seneschalstown had to be postponed due to an anticipated objection from O’Mahony’s about last weekend’s semi-final replay defeat.

O’Mahony’s played that game ‘under protest’ at the involvement of midfielder Stephen Corrigan in the Tones team. Corrigan had been sent off in extra-time of the drawn semi-final but gained a controversial clearance to play in the replay.

The clearance was on the basis that extra-time shouldn’t have been played in the drawn game, thereby voiding all acts and incidents in extra-time.

The threat of a counter appeal from O’Mahony’s in the wake of Sunday’s defeat forced county officials to postpone Sunday’s scheduled final.

But the intervention of the O’Mahony’s players who met on Tuesday and voted unanimously not to disrupt the rest of the championship has brought an end to the affair.

A statement from the Navan O’Mahony’s panel, which includes Meath players Stephen Bray, Niall McKeigue and Mark Ward, noted that they didn’t ‘wish to tarnish our club’s good reputation by lodging an objection’.

It’s envisaged that the final will now be played on Sunday week and, barring a replay, Meath will have a representative for the Leinster club SFC a week later.