Football

GAA President Aogán Ó Fearghail unhappy with Ulster Council over replay

Cavan and Tyrone will renew acquaintances in the Ulster semi-final replay on July 3 
Cavan and Tyrone will renew acquaintances in the Ulster semi-final replay on July 3  Cavan and Tyrone will renew acquaintances in the Ulster semi-final replay on July 3 

GAA President Aogán Ó Fearghail has admitted he’s ‘not happy’ with the Ulster Council’s handling of the Tyrone-Cavan replay saga, criticising the two-week gap in games which has affected the All-Ireland qualifier series.

The provincial football semi-final meeting of Tyrone and Cavan ended in stalemate on June 19 and the initial expectation was that the replay would take place last weekend.

However, the provincial council instead set this Sunday as the replay date and, as a result, alterations were required to the overall qualifiers schedule.

Whoever loses in Clones on Sunday will now have to compete on five consecutive weekends throughout July if they’re to reach the All-Ireland semi-finals.

“The replay was fixed for two weeks after the drawn game and I don’t know why,” said Cavan native Ó Fearghail.

“I just don’t know why. I’m not happy with those things happening because we set national fixtures, then they go to the provinces and the provinces should look at the national fixtures and slot everything in.

“Personally, I was hoping at Congress earlier this year that we would not have replays at all. I still believe that would be better. I know my club at home [Drumgoon] lost two weeks because of the situation. We were due to play last weekend, we now won’t be playing for three weeks.

“My two sons play with the club so I see it first hand. It has an enormous knock-on effect. I think that in the Championship, certainly in the earlier rounds, we shouldn’t have replays. However, we did have need for a replay and the normal expectation would have been that it would take place the following weekend. Clearly, it didn’t.”

To further confuse matters, the second Ulster semi-final between Donegal and Monaghan, which was played last weekend, also finished in a draw. On that occasion a mere seven days was afforded until the replay this Saturday.

A motion submitted by Central Council suggesting that replays be abolished in all Championship matches except provincial and All-Ireland finals was discussed at Congress last February but received just 58 per cent support, short of the two-thirds required to effect change.

Ó Fearghail believes the situation in Ulster highlights why that recommendation was brought to Congress and has suggested that it could be back on the agenda early next year.

“I hope so, I absolutely hope so,” said Ó Fearghail.

“I think we have engendered enough discussion and debate for people to start to see a bit of clarity on this.”

Ó Fearghail was speaking at the launch of the GAA’s Digital Archive for the period 1913-1923, a project undertaken to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising.

He used the platform to hit back at suggestions that Louth were unfairly treated when they played, and lost, a qualifier against Derry six days after bowing out of the Leinster championship.

“I sympathise with a player that has to play again within six days, absolutely,” said Ó Fearghail.

“That’s why we have the A and the B setup in the qualifiers and why all the structures have been put in place.

“At national level we had our fixtures plan laid out. We sent it back to the provinces, the provinces looked at that.

“There were a suite of options presented to Louth from the Leinster Council. They chose, and I say they chose, the dates that they chose for reasons of club activity and that’s the choice they made. If you make a choice, you can’t very well come back later and attack it.

“I don’t know about [their club schedule]. But I do know that nobody from Croke Park asked them to play within a six-day turnaround. That was something that Louth themselves chose within a Leinster Council framework. It’s certainly not the situation I’d like to see happening.”