Gilroy, Flanagan take aim at officials after late postponement

DUBLIN and Westmeath will return to Mullingar tomorrow evening to get their O’Byrne Cup campaign underway at the second time of asking.

Bosses Pat Gilroy and Pat Flanagan laid into local officials after yesterday’s first-round clash was called off at short notice; referee Fergal Kelly inspected the snow and frost-covered pitch at the St Loman’s club grounds in Mullingar around 45 minutes before throw-in, before deeming it unplayable.

Both sets of teams were already on hand and preparing for the game, and a number of supporters had also arrived.

A previous pitch inspection took place at 9am and officials, after consulting with the Met Office, decided the surface was likely to have improved considerably by throw-in time. The pitch was still almost entirely white by 2pm, however, while the supporters’ car park and paths were dangerously slippy.

Both Gilroy and Flanagan agreed with the postponement but claimed the call should have been made far sooner.

“It’s disappointing all right,” Gilroy said ahead of tomorrow night’s 8pm re-fixture at the same venue. “You’d have liked to think a decision could have been made earlier to save us the journey, but these things happen sometimes.

“I’m not going to get too upset about it. It’s disappointing for people who made the effort to travel.”

Flanagan was equally critically of the short notice given.

“When I got out of the car and looked at it, I was amazed at the idea that there was even a thought about it going ahead,” he said. “And that was before I actually walked on it.”

The postponement may help Westmeath most as the experienced Doran Harte and a number of players, who had been suffering from flu, could now be available. Tomorrow also marks the return to the county panel of former All-Star Des Dolan, who was scheduled to return to training following his honeymoon.

Elsewhere in the O’Byrne Cup yesterday, ties between Meath and UCD and Offaly and DCU also fell victim to the weather. Meath will now face UCD tomorrow night in Páirc Tailteann in Navan, but no new date has been finalised for the meeting of Offaly and DCU.

In the FBD League, Roscommon’s meeting with GMIT was called off at the 11th hour due to a frozen pitch in Ballyforan.

Both teams had completed the warm-ups at the south Roscommon venue ahead of the 2pm throw-in but referee Ray McBrien, after consultation with Roscommon senior football manager Fergal O’Donnell, his GMIT counterpart Pat Fallon and Connacht Council Secretary John Prenty, was unhappy with the state of the pitch. The game will be rescheduled this week while the first-round clash between Mayo and Leitrim, due to be played in Ballyhaunis, was also postponed because of a frozen pitch.

Meanwhile, Sean Cavanagh is to return to his favourite midfield role after three seasons in attack, Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has confirmed.

“That’s where he’s beginning this year,” Harte said. “Sean has played in many places and is no stranger to anywhere from eight onwards. (Midfield)’s where we’ll start him this year, but we’ll keep an open mind on it.”

Harte insisted he wants to win the McKenna Cup, even though it would mean a hectic schedule of four games in the space of two weeks in the lead-up to the National League. The entire first round of the McKenna Cup was postponed over the weekend and will now instead be played on January 22nd-23rd, with the semi-finals and final to follow within seven days.

“I suppose it will be a very packed end of the month now,” he admitted. “The competition has to be squeezed into a week less than what would have already been a quite tight schedule.”