TheOutdoorThreadmill
Poster of Savage Greatness.
Pat Spillane and Shrek were on about this last night. Surely Louth and Monaghan have enough players that they could have done with out the college players.
www.irishexaminer.com
DKiT have not had a response from Higher Education GAA since announcing the college could not play last week’s Trench Cup final, says manager Oisín McConville.
The former Armagh star says treatment of the finalists in the third level second-tier football competition has him fearful for counties who play in the Tailteann Cup competition this summer.
The Dundalk college pulled out of the final, rescheduled from last Saturday to Friday, because up to nine of their players would have been in line to play three matches in four or five days, due to Allianz League commitments with Louth and Monaghan.
DKiT requested the game be rescheduled after their win over TUS Midwest in last Wednesday’s semi-final. Unlike the Sigerson Cup final, which was played in midweek, and the Fitzgibbon Cup final, played on a free weekend of inter-county hurling, the Trench final was scheduled for a football league weekend.
Speaking with Paul Rouse on the Irish Examiner Allianz League Football Podcast, McConville explained the sequence of events:
“We got an email back pretty quick on Wednesday saying there would be no give, the final wasn’t going to be changed. Then it was down to the players. Players put up a poll on the group and said, ‘do we want to go and play without our teammates that we’ve played with all year or do we want to pull out'. To a man, there wasn’t one man who wanted to play.
“Thursday we told them we were pulling out. There was no reaction. We still haven’t heard anything back. Not a word. I think it’s incredible.
“Some of the criticism that has been thrown at our boys as a college… that we were holding the GAA to ransom. You have to have a hostage in a ransom situation. We had no hostage.
"We were under no illusion when we got that email back on the Wednesday, that if we didn’t show up for the game there was going to be no alternative date, there was going to be no compromise. The players were aware of that information before they took the decision.”
McConville expressed his sympathy for final opponents GMIT.
“I genuinely feel for GMIT because I’m pretty sure all those lads wanted to play in a national final. But our players felt their hands were tied.”
He has given up hope that the final will be rescheduled and is disillusioned by the disappointing end to the competition.
“It doesn't seem to matter to anyone else but the people involved. Everyone is waiting to see the Tailteann Cup and see how the teams in Division 3 and 4 are treated over the next six months. Because it’s a massive thing within the GAA. There have been a lot of promises made.
“But having had the experience I’ve had in the last seven days, I’d be very fearful for anyone in the Tailteann Cup, if that’s the way they treat second tier competitions. There is very little regard.”
Oisín McConville: 'I fear for Tailteann Cup if that's how the second tier is treated'
DKiT have not had a response from Higher Education GAA since announcing the college could not play last week’s Trench Cup final, says manager Oisín McConville.
www.irishexaminer.com
DKiT have not had a response from Higher Education GAA since announcing the college could not play last week’s Trench Cup final, says manager Oisín McConville.
The former Armagh star says treatment of the finalists in the third level second-tier football competition has him fearful for counties who play in the Tailteann Cup competition this summer.
The Dundalk college pulled out of the final, rescheduled from last Saturday to Friday, because up to nine of their players would have been in line to play three matches in four or five days, due to Allianz League commitments with Louth and Monaghan.
DKiT requested the game be rescheduled after their win over TUS Midwest in last Wednesday’s semi-final. Unlike the Sigerson Cup final, which was played in midweek, and the Fitzgibbon Cup final, played on a free weekend of inter-county hurling, the Trench final was scheduled for a football league weekend.
Speaking with Paul Rouse on the Irish Examiner Allianz League Football Podcast, McConville explained the sequence of events:
“We got an email back pretty quick on Wednesday saying there would be no give, the final wasn’t going to be changed. Then it was down to the players. Players put up a poll on the group and said, ‘do we want to go and play without our teammates that we’ve played with all year or do we want to pull out'. To a man, there wasn’t one man who wanted to play.
“Thursday we told them we were pulling out. There was no reaction. We still haven’t heard anything back. Not a word. I think it’s incredible.
“Some of the criticism that has been thrown at our boys as a college… that we were holding the GAA to ransom. You have to have a hostage in a ransom situation. We had no hostage.
"We were under no illusion when we got that email back on the Wednesday, that if we didn’t show up for the game there was going to be no alternative date, there was going to be no compromise. The players were aware of that information before they took the decision.”
McConville expressed his sympathy for final opponents GMIT.
“I genuinely feel for GMIT because I’m pretty sure all those lads wanted to play in a national final. But our players felt their hands were tied.”
He has given up hope that the final will be rescheduled and is disillusioned by the disappointing end to the competition.
“It doesn't seem to matter to anyone else but the people involved. Everyone is waiting to see the Tailteann Cup and see how the teams in Division 3 and 4 are treated over the next six months. Because it’s a massive thing within the GAA. There have been a lot of promises made.
“But having had the experience I’ve had in the last seven days, I’d be very fearful for anyone in the Tailteann Cup, if that’s the way they treat second tier competitions. There is very little regard.”
