Electrical problems only added to Sunday’s woes

IT seemed like it might have been a clever ploy by Wicklow GAA when, after seven minutes of action, during which the footballers had fallen behind thanks to an early goal, the national anthem was suddenly belted out over the speakers for the second time as if to suggest that we should start the game all over again and forget the early goal.

It was just one of a number of embarrassing incidents at Sun- day’s national football league opener at Joule Park Aughrim.

The singer of the national anthem couldn’t perform during the playing of the anthem before the game, due to a power surge which caused the national anthem music to be played ahead of schedule.

The electricity failing meant that the substitutes couldn’t be announced during the game with electricians only getting to the grounds as the game neared its conclusion, and sources in the County Board have told the Wick- low People that there was also difficulties with the water supply at the venue.

A big talking point among the tiny crowd of spectators from the home county was the decision to charge those who attended the Kehoe Cup final in Arklow the full €10 on the gate to gain access to Joule Park Aughrim.

Many of the spectators felt that a concession of sorts should have been made to those who turned up to support the hurlers rather than hitting them for €20 in total for the two games, with the football being described as one of the worst Wicklow performances for many years.

One positive note from the games was the practical and impressive match programme which was full colour and contained the teams from both the Kehoe Cup and the Allianz NFL Division 4 games.

The programmes are reported to have sold well on the day and came in for praise among the spectators at both venues.