Donegal defeated in bid to stop Dublin’s double Croker date
DUBLIN footballers will effectively have two home games in the Super 8s again, provided they get there, after Donegal’s motion to ensure that no county could nominate Croke Park as a home venue for the All-Ireland quarter-finals was roundly defeated at Congress yesterday.
Even though the motion could be viewed as an attempt to safeguard the integrity of the Super 8s as a competition, it garnered just 36 per cent support among delegates in Wexford.
Without naming Dublin, Donegal chairman Mick McGrath said it was unfair that Croke Park could be deemed both as a home venue and a neutral venue for a team and that it had generated an advantage for those who get more use out of the stadium.
Seamus O’Donnell, another delegate from the county echoed his chairman’s sentiments about Dublin’s advantage of playing so many games in Croke Park. ‘We don’t expect to play two Super 8 games in MacCumhaill Park,’ O’Donnell said.
‘Let us address the imbalance that’s there. One team gets to play two games at Croke Park. It’s important we correct the imbalance and there’s fairness and openness for everybody. The ethos of this Association is the games and to provide games in fairness is what we should be focused on.’
Getting to the crux of the matter, O’Donnell concluded by asking delegates: ‘Are we interested in finances or fairness? I would ask everyone to support a motion that ensures a more level playing field for all counties.’
Opposing the motion, Dublin secretary John Costello confirmed that Parnell Park would have been the home venue if it was passed but estimating their core support at 35,000, he highlighted that many would be excluded if they had to play at the 8,500-capacity venue at Donnycarney and said it would be a ‘public relations disaster’ to turn away so many supporters while also stressing the financial repercussions.
‘Nobody cried foul about us using Croke Park when we weren’t having any success,’ Costello added before turning his ire on Donegal, claiming that it was the first time since he began coming to Congress in the late 1970s that one county has been targeted, calling the motion ‘divisive and mean-spirited.’
Former GAA President Sean Kelly also spoke against the motion. ‘This is a very negative motion that deserves a negative response,’ said Kelly. ‘Anyone who wants to beat the Dubs should aspire to do so in Croke Park. That’s certainly what we aspire to do in Kerry as we bid to stop the “drive for five”.’
Wexford delegate Tony Dempsey said Croke Park belonged as much to him as it did Dublin while Meath’s assistant treasurer Francis Flynn pointed out that the motion could impact on other counties whose home venues may be unavailable. No county spoke in support of Donegal and in the end, 64 per cent of delegates voted against the motion.
In his address to Congress, GAA President John Horan called on the Club Players Association to put forward their own plans on how to fix the fixtures schedule while in commending the work of the playing rules committee, he took a swipe at negative football.
‘Football is now very much a possession-based game with a primacy placed on depriving the opposition oxygen by denying them time on the ball,’ Horan said. ‘This means that the gamble of allowing man-on-man contests are far less than before.
‘However, the overuse of the handpass and the long passages of play without forward progression, are two aspects of the game that challenge its long-standing allure. Defending is one of the great skills of our games but not when it comes at the expense of a team having an attacking platform to threaten at the opposite end of the field.’
Meanwhile, the Gaelic Players Association’s effort to have someone sitting on the Central Competitions Control Committee was roundly defeated, getting only 15 per cent support among delegates in Wexford and a motion was passed to allow Under 20 players who are part of their senior panel to join up with the county underage squad, provided that the senior side has exited the Championship.