Fermanagh minor manager Niall McElroy has hit out at the allocation of home advantage to the top teams for this year’s Ulster MFC quarter-finals.
His side, which finished fourth in Section A of the round robin series, must travel to Omagh to take on Section B winners and defending champions Tyrone on Saturday, and the Erne boss is far from happy with the arrangement.
“We’re disappointed with the venue for the game. We feel that it’s wrong that a top team in one group has home advantage over a fourth placed team in the other group,” he said.
“There’s obviously a clear difference in levels between teams that finished in first place and fourth place in the minor championship.
“The top team has earned a big enough reward for finishing as the best team in their group in facing the fourth team from the other group, without giving them home advantage on top of that.”
McElroy feels that the system of deciding venues for the knock-out stages goes against the spirit and the purpose of this year’s new Championship structure, which guarantees every team at least four games.
“This year’s format is all about the development of players, and looking at it from our county’s point of view, I don’t think that’s helping the development of players.
“We have done the best we can to earn fourth place in our group, and we feel we have achieved something in doing that.
“And to have to face the top team is a tough enough thing to have to do, without having to go to their own ground on top of that.”
The format was decided by Ulster GAA earlier this year, but the Fermanagh manager called for flexibility and a readiness to amend the schedule in terms of venues.
“I think it should be either a home venue for the fourth placed team or at the very least a neutral venue," he said.
“In the other group, you have the same story, and we feel that Antrim should have home advantage or a neutral venue as well for their game against Derry.
“There’s no reason why the Ulster Council couldn’t reflect on it, after seeing some of the games in this year’s League and Championship, and make a minor adaption to the venues in mid-competition.”
Fermanagh lost heavily to Derry in the group stage, but were competitive against Donegal, and won a crunch concluding fixture against Down to clinch their place in the last eight.
“There’s a big difference in level between ourselves and Derry, who are one of the top teams in it, and it’s the same with Tyrone,” McElroy said.
“We’re facing a massive challenge, Tyrone is a very good team, and it’s being made even more difficult for us by having to play them in their ground.
Beating Down victory was a good lift. We have had some difficult games this year, and we went into the Down game trying to make sure we were the team that would qualify out of the group.
“We put up a very good performance and we felt we deserved our quarter-final place.”
