Football

Ulster Council keeping fingers crossed weather doesn't intervene in tight McKenna Cup schedule

Not even a winter's sun could thaw out The Athletic Grounds on Sunday. The Armagh v Derry will now take place next Sunday Picture by Margaret McLaughlin.
Not even a winter's sun could thaw out The Athletic Grounds on Sunday. The Armagh v Derry will now take place next Sunday Picture by Margaret McLaughlin. Not even a winter's sun could thaw out The Athletic Grounds on Sunday. The Armagh v Derry will now take place next Sunday Picture by Margaret McLaughlin.
By Brendan Crossan

ULSTER Council officials will be keeping their fingers crossed that January’s cold snap doesn’t cause any more havoc with their Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup schedule over the coming days.

The Council’s attempts to play the group stages within a seven-day time-frame have fallen by the wayside after three ties were postponed last Sunday because of frozen pitches.

Tomorrow’s round of games will go ahead as scheduled with the three postponed games – Armagh v Derry, Monaghan v Donegal and Down v UU – being slotted in for next Sunday.

The Ulster Council is still hoping to play one semi-final next Sunday – the winners of Section A [Tyrone, Cavan, Antrim, St Mary’s] and Section C [Fermanagh, Donegal, QUB and Monaghan] – should the group winners be determined tomorrow night.

If not, both semi-finals will be played on Wednesday January 17 with the final still scheduled to take place on Saturday January 20.

With the Allianz National Football League starting earlier this year – the last weekend in January – the Ulster Council has less wriggle room to fit in the McKenna Cup.

A Council spokesman confirmed that supporters who had actually paid in to Clones [Monaghan v Donegal] and Burren [Down v UU] were given tickets for the re-arranged fixtures, and if they are unable to attend they are permitted to use the ticket for either of the semi-final matches or get a refund.

Nobody had paid into The Athletic Grounds for the postponed Armagh v Derry game last Sunday.

Dr McKenna Cup fixtures

Tomorrow: Section A: Cavan v Tyrone (Breffni Park, 8pm), Antrim v St Mary's (Woodlands Park, 8pm) Section B: Derry v Down (Celtic Park, 8pm), Armagh v UU (The Athletic Grounds, 8pm) Section C: Monaghan v QUB (Castleblayney, 8pm), Donegal v Fermanagh (Ballybofey, 8pm)

Sunday Jan 14 re-fixtures: Section B: Armagh v Derry (The Athletic Grounds, 2pm), Down v UU (Burren, 2pm) Section C: Monaghan v Donegal (Clones, 2pm) *Possible semi-final to be played here [Section A winners v Section C winners]

Wednesday Jan 17: One or both semi-finals to be played here

Saturday January 20: Final