Cork clubs asked to solve fixtures crux

The eight quarter-finalists in this year’s Cork U21AFC have been asked to come up with alternative proposals for the staging of their ties.

At last night’s Cork County Board meeting in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, delegates from the various clubs expressed misgivings at the scheduling of the ties for the weekend after next, a full month ahead of the staging of the same round in 2013.

Primarily, a clash with both college exams and the Leaving Certificate has left clubs with the problem, but their misgivings were not met with acceptance by the board.

Bernard Corcoran (Nemo Rangers) and Donal McCarthy of Valley Rovers both sought postponements, with McCarthy pointing out that there was no pressing need to finish the competition, as there is no Munster championship.

However, board administrator Diarmuid O’Donovan was at pains to make clear that there was no solution acceptable to everybody, citing the example of one club which had sought to play on June 25 despite having a player on the Cork minor hurling team, who play a day later.

In addition, secretary Frank Murphy said that it was not satisfactory that the Leaving Certificate should be affecting the running of an adult competition, which is what the U21 championship was.

The clubs involved were then asked to see if they could come up with better proposals in the coming days.

The issue of fixture-planning was also something which was touched on in a report from Cork U21 manager Seán Hayes, which was read out at the meeting.

Hayes felt that three days was insufficient preparation ahead of the All-Ireland semi-final with Roscommon and believed that too many games in a short space of time contributed to poor performances on the day, aside from some debatable refereeing decisions at key stages.

In addition, Hayes was of the view that time-keeping is an issue which requires closer attention.

“We pointed out to the linesman that the injury time was up,” his report read, “and he said he saw our point of view but that it was out of his control to do anything.”

Also at the meeting, Murphy and chairman Bob Ryan expressed pleasure that planning permission had been granted for the redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh and while they could say no more at this time, more information would be released in due course.