Call offs cause fixtures headache
STORM Dennis laid waste to Gaelic games action as the weekend programme was almost wiped out in its entirety.
Antrim’s crunch Division 2A match against Offaly was called off early on Saturday after O’Connor Park in Tullamore was deemed a safety hazard to players.
The Dr Harty Cup final, a Munster Colleges hurling decider, was also called off, while matches at Under-20 level in Ulster, Connacht and Leinster were all postponed.
The MacRory Cup quarter-final between St Patrick’s, Armagh and Omagh CBS was fixed for Dunmoyle, the home ground of Errigal Ciaran in Tyrone, but was cancelled.
With the fixture programme already crammed full, such occurrences can have a knock-on effect, but as explained by Ulster Council spokesperson Declan Woods in relation to the Under-20s games, stringent measures had been put in place to make the call as soon as possible.
“From our perspective, the Ulster Council were aware of the weather forecast for the weekend and aware of the weather we had last weekend,” Woods explained.
“And because of that, all of the grounds were inspected on Friday morning at 11am. That wouldn’t happen every week, obviously, but on this occasion we inspected all four grounds and they were all deemed playable.
“Further to that, and further to the weather conditions forecast, it was arranged that they would all be inspected at 9.30am on Saturday morning.”
That happened on Saturday morning and Kingspan Breffni, which was to host Cavan and Down, Antrim’s venue of Dunsilly and the Athletic Grounds, where Armagh were to face Tyrone, were all initially passed fit for play.
The Donegal and Monaghan clash had been fixed for Ballybofey but at that stage needed to be moved to O’Donnell Park in Letterkenny.
However, the storm grew heavier and the rain fell harder in the interim.
“Because the weather was still poor and there was more rain to come, the match officials were instructed to be in the grounds early, at 12.15pm, to give them a final inspection,” Woods stated.
“The four referees were all in the grounds at that stage and between 12.15pm and 12.30pm, each of the grounds was deemed unplayable. That’s how we got to where we are.”
With MacRory Cup football and the Under-20 competition now on top of each other, the welfare of players asked to play at different levels becomes paramount.
“It’s incredibly frustrating and the man who would have carried the burden of that and the messages going on is Stephen Donnelly, who is in charge of fixtures. And Stephen had carried this weight, all the organising and the inspections,” said Woods.
“People would not realise the work that goes into that. He’s the one, as it were, in the control centre.
“So, it’s a mess, unfortunately, for everybody. There is nothing that anyone can do, but it is important from our perspective that it is known that all the grounds were inspected on Friday and deemed playable and then inspected again at 9.30am on Saturday morning.
“Referees were asked to be in attendance at 12.15pm, they were there for that time and between 12.15pm and 12.30pm, the decisions were made that the pitches were not safe to play on.”
It was initially thought that the games might get played during midweek, with Wednesday night, which is the slot it previously occupied as an Under-21 competition, a possibility, but it looks as though a few more days may be required.
“We are looking at next Saturday at 1pm,” explained Woods.
“I think Derry and Antrim are talking about playing on Friday. We didn’t want to clash with anyone, because the counties are back playing next weekend and we didn’t want people travelling too much at this time of the year if at all possible.
“And then we don’t want any games running into senior games later in the day, such as Cavan playing Fermanagh on Saturday night (in National League Division Two), so we have provisionally set them at 1pm.
“Maybe there will be a load of counties who are happy to play on Friday. Antrim and Derry are discussing that among themselves off their own bat, so that’s the situation.”