Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CUP PLAN LEFT NIFL IN DARK..
The NI Football League has said it was “blindsided” by confirmation that this season’s Irish Cup will be played in May.
The decision to start and finish the blue riband competition in May was ratified by the Irish FA Challenge Cup Committee on Thursday night.
It is hoped the first round, postponed from January, will now be staged on May 1 with the final pencilled in for Friday, May 21.
While NIFL were aware of the intention to complete the Irish Cup this season, chairman Gerard Lawlor said he new nothing about Thursday’s meeting.
“We have had discussions with the IFA and in fairness to the president (David Martin) he has been very clear in the media that the Irish Cup would be played,” Lawlor said. “In all of the meetings we’ve had at NIFL, we have always worked around models that had five Irish Cup dates, so we were aware that there would be five games.
“What we were not aware of was that there was a meeting and that actual dates were being set.
“So the blindside for us was that we thought we would work together on those further rounds of the competition.
“That was our understanding, but then there was a meeting and five dates in May were announced without any consultation with us.
“That is the disappointment for us.”
Permission may be sought from UEFA to complete the league in early-june instead of the end of May to help ensure the completion of a 38-game campaign.
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