GPA steps in as Louth v Meath game snowed off

LOUTH boss Pete McGrath was happy to see ‘common sense’ prevail as the Central CCC postponed Louth’s refixed Allianz League Division 2 clash with Meath.

The penultimate match in the Reds’ campaign was originally fixed for the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday afternoon, but was snowed off along with several other fixtures around the country. The game was initially re-fixed for Monday at the same time and venue.

However, in the meantime, the Louth management and players had voiced their concerns at the short turnaround and asked the Louth County Board to request that Croke Park make a further postponement.

As the saga unfolded some players took to social media to express their dissatisfaction at having to request time off work at short notice, insisting that less than 24 hours notice for a National League fixture was unacceptable.

And the Louth players were not alone as other inter-county stars affected by the re-fixtures also took to social media.

Late on Sunday night the GPA (Gaelic Players Association) weighed in on the controversy, releasing a statement in support of their members.

The players’ body said it was ‘unacceptable that no consultation was made with players beforehand.’

‘It would appear that little or no consideration was given to players who have contractual obligations to their employers to fulfill.

‘Furthermore, many of our players have personal or family arrangements for tomorrow which must now be changed at short notice.

‘The GPA will be supporting a number of squads who have outlined their commitment not to fulfill their fixtures tomorrow due to players unavailability. We have this evening contacted the GAA outlining our support for these squads and requesting that the CCCC find an alternative arrangement for these games.’

It is believed that the Louth camp signalled their intent not to fulfill the fixture although Pete McGrath said on Monday that ‘thankfully’ didn’t quite get that far.

Following a further pitch inspection early on Monday morning the match was postponed for a second time, with GAA authorities citing an unplayable pitch.

However, McGrath said he was glad that the Central CCC heeded players concerns in the end.

‘We trained on Sunday morning after the match was called off the first time and at that time eight of the 26 men named in our panel were unavailable,’ McGrath revealed.

‘So we decided to ask the county board to make as strong a case as possible on our behalf, which they did.

‘But it dragged on and then came official confirmation of what the management and players felt was a very unreasonable request to play the game with less than 24 hours notice.

‘Not everyone gets bank holidays off and people can’t just decide they’re not going to work at the drop a hat - and rightly so.’

The fact that the Down and Tipperary game had also been postponed, but not re-fixed for Monday added to the bewilderment in the Louth camp with the Central CCC indicating that they would re-fix that game in due course.

‘The Down and Tipp was called off because the Down players were working and it wasn’t a full bank holiday in the North, but I understand Tipperary also had to express concerns over the distance before that was postponed.’

‘Down the tears, the GAA have always endeavoured to play the last round of fixture on the same day and same time so that it was a level playing field, so once the Tipp and Down game was put back for an extra week, we couldn’t see why they couldn’t push our game back too,’ McGrath continued. ‘If the game had no bearing on promotion or relegation fair enough, but I think all of the games in this division will have something riding on them.’

Despite their concerns McGrath revealed that Louth did not have to go as far as to refuse to play the game.

‘The county board very accurately reflected what the players and management were saying and obviously we weren’t an isolated case because there were X numer of games called off on Sunday and most of the games that were re-fixed for Monday were subsequently postponed again.’

At the time of going to press it was still unclear whether the CCCC would re-fix the two postponed games in Division 2 for this weekend or proceed with the final round as per the master fixture list.

Either way, McGrath insisted they are two games Louth must take very seriously and try to restore some pride.

While the Reds still had an outside chance of surviving in the second tier before the weekend, Clare’s win over

We trained on Sunday morning after the match was called off the first time and at that time eight of the 26 men named in our panel were unavailable

Cork on Saturday evening rubber-stamped their relegation.

‘There’s two games there for us now.’ McGrath said. ‘I’m not sure yet which one is next, but they’re two very competitive games before the championship and no-one wants to go through this campaign losing seven out of seven.

‘We want to see improvement and progress with Carlow in mind. They won’t be easy games by any means. Meath are obviously in a bit of difficulty and depending on what order the games are played, Clare might not be 100 per cent safe either. But that’s what we need - highly competitive matches - that’s the only way we will improve.’

A number of games did survive the adverse weather at the weekend and it didn’t go unnoticed by McGrath or his players that Carlow secured promotion with their sixth win on the bounce.

‘Certainly that will give them a boost and they’ll also have a final in Croke Park. No matter what division you’re in that kind of progress will give you momentum and confidence and an energy. We’ll just have to deal with that.’

DIVISION 2 ROUND-UP RESULTS

Cork 0-12 Clare 0-14 Down P Tipperary P Louth P Meath P Roscommon 0-15 Cavan 0-13

TABLE

P WDLSDPts 6 4 1 1 18 9

6 4 1 1229 5 3 1267 6 3 0 3 6 6

6 2 2 2 -17 6

5 2 0 3 0 4

5 1 1 3 -3 3

5 0 0 5 -52 0