LGFA chief claims Galway 'could have been out on the pitch earlier' as controversy rumbles on

Galway wing-back Sinead Burke said Marie Hickey's comments were "a punch in the guts".

LGFA President Marie Hickey has fired back at the criticism of her Association over the late venue change for Sunday’s All-Ireland senior semi-final and claimed Galway’s complaints about decreased warm up time was due to the fact that they spent ‘quite a bit of time in the dressing room.’ 

Cork defeated Galway at Croke Park but the game was overshadowed by a late fixtures fiasco which saw the game moved from Parnell Park to Croke Park on Sunday morning. The throw in time of the game was also brought forward from 1.30pm to 1pm as the men’s semi-final between Tipperary and Mayo was fixed for GAA HQ at 3.30pm.

Both managers expressed their disgust at the situation in the aftermath with Galway boss Tim Rabbitt insisting that he had never agreed to an earlier start time. 

The Galway boss also revealed that his team had limited time to complete their pre-match preparations due to the saga.

However LGFA chief Hickey hit back on Morning Ireland this morning insisting that Galway were informed of the earlier start time and that any impact on their preparations was due to their time-keeping in the dressing room.

"It was a very difficult situation we found ourselves in yesterday.

“The bottom line was, do we cancel the game completely, or do we try and re-fix it for another venue?" she told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland of the decision to move the game to Croke Park.

"Obviously, the time frame was very short to make that decision.

“When the two managers were contacted at around 11am in the morning, they were both happy to play in Croke Park."

Regarding Rabbitt’s claims about the impact on their preparations, Hickey said: "They [Galway] spent quite a bit of time in the dressing room and then emerged out onto the pitch. They would have had the opportunity to get out onto the pitch earlier had they not spent so much time in the dressing room. They could have been out on the pitch earlier. 

"Our priority was player welfare, to get the game played. We actually thought we were doing something brilliant by getting the game into Croke Park."

She also confirmed that the LGFA had not requested a delay to the men’s throw-in time so as to accommodate a later start, reasoning: “We were so delighted to be getting in there in the first place, we just went with it."

And she rejected suggestions that the women’s game is being badly treated by their male counterparts in the GAA.

"I would argue the integration has never been closer than it has been in the last couple of years. We have secured county grounds for all our county games [2020] which wouldn’t have been the case a number of years ago. 

"There is a huge amount of cooperation between the two bodies, but it is when a glitch like this happens, people start pointing fingers and you don’t see the full picture that goes on for the rest of the year."

Earlier in the programme the Galway boss insisted that they had not agreed to bringing the game forward by 30 minutes.

"We didn’t agree to a 1pm [throw-in]," Rabbitt told Morning Ireland. 

"We agreed that we would play it, that we would get there as early as we could, once we were given assurances that we were given sufficient time. Whether the game threw in at 1pm or 1.10pm, we weren’t concerned about that once we were given assurances that we could do a proper warm-up and we were properly prepared. But the minute we took the pitch, LGFA officials, referee, straight away in our ear. 'Six minutes, you’ve got six minutes to warm up.’ 

I don’t want it to sound like sour grapes but that’s the time we should have taken a stand. We should have just walked off the field. We shouldn’t have continued on until we had a sufficient warm-up in place. 

"The disrespect that was shown once we hit Croke Park was completely unacceptable."

And responding later to Hickey's comments, Galway wing-back Sinead Burke said on Today with Claire Byrne: "It is very disappointing and disheartening to hear that.

"I have so much time for the LGFA and have had amazing days with the Association, and to hear that being said, it is a punch in the guts.

"The most disappointing thing is the question was never asked could the men's game be pushed back 30 minutes.

"That's the killer blow. The question wasn't even asked. All we were asking for was 10 minutes to get a sufficient warm-up done to get us to match intensity to be prepared going into that game yesterday and we weren't allowed."

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the saga “left an awful lot to be desired” when asked about the situation in Carrigaline this morning.

“I think it left an awful lot to be desired and I think the respective associations need to work together to have proper parity and equality in terms of how women’s football and how women’s sports in general are treated,” he said.

“I think it was very unsatisfactory what happened over the weekend in terms of the change of venues on a couple of occasions.

“It’s not good for the team and the respective players on both sides, and it’s something that definitely has to change.”