Galway draws set to go ahead

The controversy surrounding the Galway club hurling championships has been brought to a close with the draws for the respective competitions now taking place next week.

Galway’s senior and intermediate club championships were thrown into chaos last Thursday week when an objection from Moycullen forced the hurling committee to abandon their scheduled championship draws.

Moycullen objected on the grounds that the competition match regulations for 2014, as per rule 6.20, had not been approved by the County committee.

County Board secretary John Hynes accepted there had been an oversight and revealed the U21 hurling draws will now have to be redone.

“Moycullen were making reference to rule 6.20 which says that the committee in charge shall draw up and approve all other regulations governing the organisation of a championship in advance of its commencement,” noted Hynes.

“Clubs need to know before a championship starts how that championship is structured, if there is extra-time after a game in a certain round, is it an open draw for the quarter-final, is it an open draw for the group stages.

“Clubs would have been entitled to object to a result following the first round of games if the draws went ahead without the regulations being approved in advance.”

The County Committee will meet on Monday evening to rubber-stamp the competition match regulations, with the draws then taking place.

There were fears the football championships would suffer a similar fate, but Hynes said it was a hurling matter only.

This latest dispute stems from clubs’ ongoing frustration to the current structure of the Galway SHC.

Athenry lodged an objection against the format last month claiming it contravened rules as byes were not permitted in four rounds. According to the Official Guide, byes are only allowed in the first round unless prior approval has been given by Central Council.

“The structure was approved by Central Council on February 21,” Hynes confirmed. “Athenry were one of many clubs to bring forward a proposal to Convention last December to change the structure of the SHC. They proposed a senior A and B championship, which many clubs backed.

“The hurling board chairman voted to retain the current structure and all others were dropped.”