Football

Donegal withdraw from McKenna Cup out of concern for 'player welfare'

Donegal manager Declan Bonner and Michael Murphy after beating Derry during McKenna Cup match at Celtic Park. Picture Margaret McLaughlin 8-1-2020.
Donegal manager Declan Bonner and Michael Murphy after beating Derry during McKenna Cup match at Celtic Park. Picture Margaret McLaughlin 8-1-2020. Donegal manager Declan Bonner and Michael Murphy after beating Derry during McKenna Cup match at Celtic Park. Picture Margaret McLaughlin 8-1-2020.

THE Donegal county board last night rubberstamped Delcan Bonner’s announcement that he was withdrawing his senior footballers from their McKenna Cup semi-final with Monaghan.

Bonner had warned in the aftermath of Wednesday night’s victory over Derry that he would be unable to field a team for Sunday’s game due to the pressures imposed by the McKenna Cup’s clash with the Sigerson Cup. Donegal have 13 players involved in the higher education tournament and Bonner confirmed to Highland Radio that the county were “regrettably” withdrawing from the last-four clash with Monaghan.

While a spokesman for the Ulster Council said last night that they were awaiting official confirmation from the Donegal county committee of the decision, a statement was later released to that effect.

“CLG Dhún na nGall have formally written to the Ulster CCCC to withdraw from their scheduled Dr McKenna Cup semi-final next Sunday afternoon in Brewster Park, a decision not taken lightly and one which we regret having to reach, but player welfare is paramount,” read the Donegal statement.

“Much higher than anticipated attrition of players due to injuries and illness, particularly a flu virus, has let to this regretful decision – at last night’s McKenna Cup match we were only able to tog out 23 players out of the possible 26 and three more players picked up injuries during that game and will be out of contention for the next 14 days. From a player welfare perspective, it would be wrong to ask them to tog out if not fully recovered.”

The county board, who now face the possibility of sanctions from Ulster’s governing body, went on to state they could not call upon their U20 squad as the team is playing Roscommon on Saturday in the Leo Murphy Development Cup.

“We always hold the Dr McKenna Cup in the highest regard, would very much like to participate in this semi-final and very much regret having to withdraw,” they ended.

Earlier in the day, a meeting of the Ulster CCC had rejected requests from both Donegal and Down to reschedule the McKenna Cup semi-finals from this Sunday to Tuesday, January 14. While Donegal were due to play Monaghan at Brewster Park, Down were set to take on Tyrone, a game which will now also be in doubt.

“When drafting the fixture schedule following the draw on December 4, the committee and counties were fully aware that the first round of the Sigerson Cup was also scheduled for this weekend,” said the Ulster CCC in a statement.

“At their meeting today, the committee also considered the welfare of players and took the view that from a player perspective, it would be unfair to expect players to play in the Sigerson Cup on Sunday and line out for their counties on Tuesday, January 14 - and potentially be expected to play again for their county in the McKenna Cup Final on Saturday, January 18 (and perhaps for their university the following day).”

Last night’s developments come towards the end of a week where the issue of player welfare and burnout was again high on the agenda.

On Wednesday, Queen’s University and Down U20 coach Conor Deegan said the situation was becoming “critical”, while Down manager Paddy Tally insisted that county players around the country are opting out of the game because they are “physically and mentally tired”.

Declan Bonner’s simple assertion that “we won’t have a team” and the decision of his county board to back that stance will only serve to highlight the issue further.