Wicklow GAA chiefs hit back in club scheduling row

Wicklow GAA chiefs have explained why senior football champions St Patrick’s were forced to play a Leinster club championship game less than 24 hours after their title win.

St Patrick’s beat Rathnew in the final replay on Saturday, before they were defeated by Rhode in their Leinster club SFC opener on Sunday.

In a statement released by the board executive, they explained the initial stalemate six days prior to the replay forced the situation.

It read: “The reason that the replay could not have been played earlier was that there was a crossover of dual players participating in both senior hurling and senior football county finals. Our competition regulations do not provide for extra-time in a county final and we are constrained by Joule Park Aughrim not having floodlights to host a replay mid-week.

“We made efforts to change the date of the Leinster Club Championship match with Rhode, but no agreement could be reached. In a county where both hurling and football are treated equally, we do our best to plan our fixtures in a way that gives the dual club player the respect he deserves.

“It is, however, impossible to legislate for all possibilities and, if we had allowed for the possibility that both county finals could have ended in draws, we would have had to start and to finish our senior championships four weeks earlier.”

While acknowledging they intend to address “the shortcomings highlighted this year”, Wicklow insisted they had enjoyed a “very positive” fixtures year and they maintained “the club player had a better playing experience” than before [teams were guaranteed five games].

Their senior football championship commenced in the middle of July after the county team exited the All- Ireland qualifiers on June 9.

“In the time between that and the start of the club championship, the concluding stages of the county league took place (as requested by the clubs). Other inter-county competitions limited our opportunity to play the club championship any earlier.

“Our U20 football team exited the Leinster Championship on June 16. From the start of the club championships in July, football and hurling games took place week-on week-off, despite the challenge faced by Wicklow as a dual code county. We also had to plan for the All-Ireland U21 B competition in July.”

The statement continued: “A number of benefits accrued from the new fixtures programme: Inter-county players were available for practically all league games. The league started earlier and was completed in advance of the championship. Contrary to reports, the unavailability of J1 Visa players did not hold up the championship.”