Delay expected for Junior ‘A’ championship
WICKLOW’S Junior ‘A’ football championship is set for a major delay after the C.C.C. decided to award a championship game to Barndarrig following Kilbride’s decision not to travel last week.
Kilbride are likely to appeal the decision, made on Monday night, because of what they feel are extenuating circumstances which led to them not fielding a team for the clash which had been scheduled for last Thursday night in Bray.
Kilbride’s difficulties with the game arose when it was discovered that four teams, themselves, Barndarrig, Coolboy, and Newcastle were in positions to qualify for the quarter-finals. Collboy were facing Newcastle on Sunday.
However, had Kilbride defeated Barndarrig by more than five points, that would have meant that Coolboy were through and the Kilbride club needed Newcastle to lose and the club were concerned that perhaps players might be rested or that, with the necessity to win absent from the fixture, that the game would not be played as it would be if both fixtures were played at the same time.
The Kilbride club emailed their concerns to the County Board on August 7 and again on August 10 after allegedly receiving no reply with regard to their concerns but having received two emails in relation to changing the fixture from Laragh to Bray and a clash in jerseys.
In a reply on August 11, the C.C.C. stated that the game had been fixed for Thursday because Kilbride had booked the weekend off earlier in the year and that as three teams needed to win the games could go ahead as scheduled.
Liam Creighton, secretary of the Kilbride club, said that the decision to award the game to Barndarrig was “unfair” and that the club were “very unhappy” with the decision. The club have scheduled a committee meeting to discuss the option of an appeal.
Mick Hagan of the C.C.C. said that Kilbride have the right to appeal if they choose to do so but he also added that Kilbride notified the C.C.C. early on Thursday of their intentions not to travel and that two clear days notice must be given in all cases. He said that as far as the C.C.C. were concerned, the games were must win ties for all four clubs and did not need to be played at the same time.