Angry Farney boys set to boycott league final
The players have wholeheartedly supported manager Mattie Lennon who on Saturday stepped down from his position after the county board refused to postpone club football fixtures involving county players tomorrow night.
The board last night met to discuss and form a response to a statement issued by the players yesterday.
At a meeting on Sunday night, the board informed player representatives they wouldn’t switch the fixtures and their solution was to appoint a joint interim management team for Sunday’s game.
However, following a meeting of their own yesterday morning, the players rejected the board’s recommendation and later released a statement via the GPA.
They are requesting three of the intermediate games involving inter-county hurlers be postponed to allow the county to train collectively at their regular Wednesday evening time.
They also want any club football game fixed for Fridays, prior to Saturday Nicky Rackard games next month, to be pushed back to the previous Tuesdays at least.
Should they reach the Nicky Rackard final, they are demanding at least one free week to be given to them in preparation for the final.
They insist every effort must be made to encourage Lennon and his backroom team back before training tomorrow evening.
Three of the seven intermediate teams affected by the clash with hurling training tomorrow night were not in a position to release the hurlers and requested fixtures switches. However, the board refused.
“It is beyond our comprehension as a squad why they are now prepared undo this progress by failing to accept a compromise,” said the players.
According to their statement, Lennon had been given assurances by officials that they were committed to “the promotion and development of hurling within the county”.
“We believe this decision by the Monaghan County Board contravenes the GAA’s stated commitment to hurling contained in the recently-published Hurling Development Plan,” the statement said.
“Also the proposed scheduling of fixtures during the Rackard Cup is also a welfare issue and in conflict with the association’s commitment to tackle player burnout.”
The players also claim the board have given them no guarantees that they will accede to the break in club football fixtures from upcoming Nicky Rackard Cup games.
Monaghan are set to play their first fixture in the competition on May 12.
Under Lennon, the hurlers claim they have trained collectively on 44 occasions from Jan 4, which has seen them transform themselves from Division 3A strugglers in 2011 to contenders this year.
The panel has been liaising with the GPA but it appears the deadline is too short for both the players body and Croke Park to become involved and attempt to resolve the matter in time.
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