Cork Con court injunction scuppers Munster Senior Cup decider plans

CORK CONSTITUTION have succeeded in getting a court injunction against Young Munster playing UCC in tomorrow’s Munster Senior Cup final.

Judge Patrick J Moran made an interim order against the decider going ahead arising out of a dispute between Con and the Munster branch of the IRFU.

The order was granted following an injunction application made by Eamon Shanahan barrister on behalf of Cork Constitution Football Club.

The defendants in the ex-parte application were the trustees of the Munster branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union.

The background to the matter relates to a semi-final between Young Munster and Cork Con. The Cork club was unable to field a team for the game and despite their representations to the Munster branch of the IRFU, Cork Con were deemed to have lost the match and Young Munster were given a bye to the final of the competition.

Mr Shanahan BL submitted yesterday that the IRFU rules stated that where a club was unhappy with a decision they had a right of appeal. Mr Shanahan argued that in the present case Cork Con had been denied the right to an appeal and that this constituted a denial of fair procedure.

Judge Moran acceded to the application and said: “I grant you the interim order directing them to adjudicate the objection made by your clients. It follows from that a further interim order to postpone Sunday’s match until the outcome of the adjudication by an appeals committee.”

The semi-final between the sides was originally scheduled for Temple Hill on January 2 but it could not go ahead because the pitch was unplayable due to weather conditions. It was then re-scheduled for the following month but Cork Con told the Munster branch that due to unavailability of players through injury they could not safely field a team. They were particularly concerned about the health and safety of putting replacement players into front row positions and they sought a postponement.

“The Munster branch decided that Cork Con had failed to fulfil the fixture and deemed them to have lost the match,” Mr Shanahan said.

As it was an ex-parte injunction only Cork Con’s legal representatives were present in Cork Circuit Court yesterday.

Young Munster secretary Brendan Collopy expressed disappointment at the news.

“This is an issue between the Munster Branch and Cork Constitution. However, to have the game postponed at this time is disappointing. We had arranged six or more buses to transport supporters to Cork for the match and the players were certainly geared up to participating in the final,” he said last night.

UCC President, Dr Len Harty hopes the matter can be resolved quickly.

“Our guys had obviously been looking forward to the match and it could pose problems down the line for the individuals and the club; the timing of the final was fine by us but all of our players are facing into examinations during April and May, so hopefully the matter will be resolved long before then,” he said.

In a brief statement last night, Munster Branch President Declan Madden confirmed: “That we have been formally served with an injunction that doesn’t allow the final of the ODM Munster Senior Cup to go ahead as we planned on Sunday. I am extremely disappointed that Cork Constitution have taken this course of action. We have not seen the terms of the injunction and as such are not in a position to comment on the content. I would, however, like to say that it is a huge disappointment for our sponsors and the teams that were due to be involved in the final."