St Pat’s problem is home-grown

CASEY O’BRIEN is right – forcing a team to play a county final and a provincial game inside 24 hours, as happened his club St Patrick’s last weekend, is unfair.

St Patrick’s beat Rathnew in the Wicklow football final replay and lost to Rhode. O’Brien (above) appeared to lay the blame with the Leinster Council, stating that “somebody somewhere along the line must have been able to shift a few fixtures and put our match (v Rhode) back”. Surely it’s Wicklow, rather than Leinster, that have a case to answer. Their senior footballers and hurlers had completed their season by June 9, yet the club football final, which finished level, wasn’t played until October 14, followed by the hurling decider on October 21.

Why take so long to run off their championships?