‘Totally unfair’ fixture schedule leave St Pat’s boss fuming
TWO games in consecutive days has been branded “totally unfair” by St Patrick’s boss Casey O’Brien after the Wicklow SFC champions were forced to play twice within 24 hours last weekend and were subsequently knocked out of the Leinster club SFC.
Having dethroned Rathnew in their replayed county final on Saturday, St Patrick’s played Offaly champions Rhode the next day and were no match for their much fresher opponents, much to O’Brien’s annoyance.
“I don’t know who made the fixtures but we were told that they were set in stone and you had to play and that’s that. They allowed no time whatsoever for replays, for the dual players, for nothing,” he fumed.
“No matter how fit one team is, it can’t be an even playing field the next day. Surely to God somebody somewhere along the line must’ve been able to shift a few fixtures and put our match back. There has to be a weekend break somewhere.
“It was totally unfair to whoever was representing Wicklow. The horse that wins the Derby doesn’t go out and run the next day so why should we? It’s absolutely crazy.”
THE circumstances which saw St Patrick’s win their first Wicklow SFC title in six years and then represent the Garden county fewer than 24 hours later in the Leinster club SFC shouldn’t be tolerated in this day and age.
There are 52 weeks in a year and yet the GAA’s fixture decision-makers continue to shovel games on top of each other at the end of the season in what is one of the great unsolved mysteries of the association.
Wicklow were dumped out of the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers by Cavan on June 9 and yet, amazingly, 20 weeks elapsed before a line was drawn under the most prestigious football competition within the county.
They aren’t alone either with 15 county football championships behind on 2017, which makes a mockery of expected improvements to club fixtures when inter-county leagues and All-Ireland finals were brought forward this year for that purpose.
St Patrick’s won’t be the last to suffer this cruel fate but it leaves a sour taste in the mouth of their manager Casey O’Brien (right) that they were forced to return a day after ending Rathnew’s reign as Wicklow champions following a bruising replay.
Just 21 hours after a moment players, management and supporters will never forget, a weary St Patrick’s returned to Aughrim to face Offaly kingpins Rhode – old hands in the provincial series – when minds and bodies should have been basking in a sweet success.
County final victories are a rarity for most and every last ounce of enjoyment should be savoured afterwards.
Instead, players were crazily taking out their boots to go again when the party should only have been starting.
It’s a situation that infuriates O’Brien with their shot at Leinster over before it even began.
“It can’t be done, it’s impossible to play two games in a row, especially with the effort that these other teams are putting in,” O’Brien said.
“No matter how fit one team is, it can’t be an even playing field the next day. Surely to God somebody somewhere along the line must’ve been able to shift a few fixtures and put our match back. There has to be a weekend break somewhere.
“It was totally unfair to whoever was representing Wicklow and after being in a losing dressing-room, it takes a little bit of an edge off winning the day before.”
O’Brien admits that St Patrick’s didn’t think about Rhode until Sunday morning and he had no intention of raining on his squad’s parade after achieving something special which left grown men and women flooded with tears of joy.
“The lads put a lot of effort in and sacrificed a lot of things, we couldn’t tell them not to take a drink Saturday night, it was as simple as that. We left it up to them and they enjoyed themselves, and rightfully so,” he said.
“Rhode are a super team and if we hadn’t played a match the day before we still mightn’t have beaten them, but it’d definitely have been a lot closer than a 10-point deficit.
“And if roles were reversed and Rhode had to play Rathnew on Saturday, we would have beaten them. It’s just a mad set-up, the horse that wins the Derby doesn’t go out and run the next day so why should we? It’s absolutely crazy.”
Speaking to RTÉ Radio’s ‘Sunday Sport’, Club Players Association chairman Micheál Briody stressed the need for change before it is “too late” after “2018 was worse for the club player than previous years”.
“The GAA has the ability to change things quickly. We saw that in Newbridge and we saw that in the Liam Miller case. If there’s a will, it can be changed. And that will, that leadership, needs to come from the top,” a passionate Briody said.
“Club players are suffering in most counties around Ireland. They’re not getting a certain list of fixtures that they can plan their lives around. That is completely unacceptable in 2018.”
While admitting that an “all-out strike is nigh-on impossible at club level”, Briody added that “there are many forms of strike and dissent” and unless the GAA act swiftly to solve the fixture crisis at club level, they could find themselves trying to stem the blood flow when irreversible damage has already been done.