Ulster back Jim’s call to suspend club games

The Ulster Council will grant Jim McGuinness’ wish of postponing the Donegal SFC until after the county’s All-Ireland championship exit, the Irish Examiner has learned.

The Donegal boss, in demanding the shelving of club action, claimed too many inter-county players incurred injuries while on club duty last summer which impacted directly on their unsuccessful defence of the Sam Maguire Cup.

County Board chiefs had given the green light to McGuinness’ request, but it was hoped the Ulster Council would intervene.

Central Council had ordered the four provincial bodies, as per rule 3.32, to examine club fixture schedules for the season ahead, taking action where necessary to ensure club players no longer stand idle for much of the summer. Ulster chairman Martin McAviney backed the directive and told the Irish Examiner earlier this year if fixture programmes were not compliant corrective action would be taken.

A source close to the Ulster CCC has revealed they will not intervene in the club/county row unless Donegal reach the All-Ireland final because they will not be able to field a team in the provincial club championship.

The Donegal club winners are pencilled in to contest the Ulster quarter-final on November 2, six weeks after the All-Ireland final date. The Donegal senior football championship comprises of 16 teams, four groups of four, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the quarter-finals. A time frame of at least six weeks is required to run off the competition and it remains to be seen what action will be taken should McGuinness’ men advance to the decider.

The Munster Council has reviewed the fixture masterplans of the six counties and is satisfied club players will no longer endure the raw deal of old.

Operations manager, Kieran Leddy, said there were issues with one or two of the schedules submitted, but those problems have now been rectified.

“We got back to one or two with queries but nothing major,” he said.

“We would always have queries about dates but we have to respect that Munster is a dual province and complications do arise. Trying to fit a club fixtures program around two inter-county teams operating at the top tier can present challenges.

“We have had our meeting. We made one or two observations. All counties were making a good effort to get games played during the summer where possible.”

Lester Ryan, a member of theLeinster GAA fixtures planning committee, insisted schedules are subject to change so close monitoring of each county is required.

“No paper will refuse ink but we are very happy that there is a good spread of games in each county,” he said. “If a weaker county enjoys a good run in the championship there is a tendency to call off the club championship, but we have to ensure that doesn’t happen. We have to strike a delicate balance.

“Your inter-county team is your shop window team. They are the ones who raise the profile of the game, but we cannot forget our club players.”