Flanagan: Failure to fix replay for Ruislip ‘a missed opportunity’
Their victory over Sligo in the last round led to increased media attention in the UK and had the replay been fixed for Ruislip, county PRO Declan Flanagan believes they would have benefited in the long run. However, the decision not to allow the Exiles host the replay will lead to added costs of between €8,000 to €10,000 on the board.
“It’s a disappointment. I’m not sure what’s going on in terms of negotiations with the CCC,” he said last night.
“To me it was an opportunity missed. The exposure and profile it would have given us would have been incredible. We have had a lot of interest from ITV, the BBC and Sky in recent weeks and they have been looking to get involved and do a story on us.
“The UK and London press have said: ‘Oh God, we’d better do something about this team’.
“The reaction I’ve got from people on social networks has been disappointing. A lot of people expected the replay to be in Ruislip. But we’ve got to respect those reasons.
“It would have been a huge event. Massive. Historic really. You’re looking at something that might not happen for 10, 20, 30 years again. An opportunity for a replay on our home step. The law of averages would have said that after Carrick was the venue for the first game that the replay should have went to where the away team is, but that’s not to be and we accept it.
“When the game ended I was thinking of all the jobs we’d have to do to get Ruislip ready...
“To me it would have been a monumental decision and we’d have no problem holding it. You’d have got a lot of people here and set it up well so they could enjoy the occasion in safety. It’s disappointing but we have to accept it.
“I know the team will be very disappointed at the prospect of travelling back to Ireland again but hopefully they can go one step further this time and make a Connacht final.”
However, Flanagan refused to criticise the Connacht Council for their decision, although he did concede the majority of the week would be spent trying to find ways to fund a trip which was not planned for in their budget.
“We’ve got to respect the Connacht Council and we’ve a great relationship with them.
“It’s a huge cost sending a team to Ireland and I would estimate it would be between €8,000 and 10,000. It will cost the board a lot.
“We have to find the money from somewhere because it is not in the budget. But it’s a nice problem to have, we will have to work hard to bring in more sponsorship.
“Everyone will come back tomorrow and we’ll sit down during the week and look at where we’re at. It will take a lot of discussions to work out where we’re going to bring in the revenue from to make up for the extra expense. It will be a headache but we’ll have to manage.”
The fact the game was not broadcast either on television or online meant supporters gathered at Ruislip yesterday to listen to the commentary around a laptop in scenes reminiscent of times long gone by, and Flanagan anticipates a similar problem this coming weekend
“There are a lot of Gaels here in London and they would have loved to see the game here in London. I took my laptop to Ruislip today and set up a speaker. There were people crowded around the table like a scene from the ’30s and it was exciting.
“When London went ahead we were all cheering. It would have been great to see the replay back here and we probably won’t get a chance to see the game next weekend unless RTÉ stream it.”
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