Decision to rush Cavan into semi-final defended

GAELIC GAMES:THE GAA'S Central Competitions Control Committee's (CCCC) has defended its controversial decision to fix Cavan's All-Ireland Under-21 football semi-final against Wexford for tomorrow, just three days after the Ulster champions beat Tyrone in the provincial final.

Patrick Doherty, secretary of the CCCC, said that the situation, whereas regrettable, was unavoidable given the national fixtures plan. “The reasoning on this was essentially that we have an All-Ireland final scheduled for 30th April. The first option considered was moving the final into May, but that would have had an instant knock-on effect on club fixtures and, remember, at the time of meeting, we still had five counties involved.

“There’s also the matter of policy that we’re meant to observe a three-week window of no inter-county activity to allow clubs have priority. After deliberation, we decided not to cut across that policy.”

It was the hypothetical problem of what to do if Wexford and Cavan required a replay that caused most difficulty.

Furthermore, it is believed that Wexford, with a number on the team at college in Limerick and Cork, wanted the fixture to be arranged for a nearby venue if it was to be able to field those players. At the time of the CCCC meeting, it was possible Tyrone would qualify and the distance between the potential semi-finalists would have been substantial.

Another option considered was that the match would be played tomorrow week with any required replay two days later on Easter Monday, but it wasn’t possible to secure agreement for this.

Cavan selector Ronan Carolan, who is also a member of the GAA’s Medical, Scientific and Welfare Committee, said yesterday that it was totally unreasonable to expect his players to fulfil the fixture, just three days after their Ulster final victory over Tyrone. “It is absolutely scandalous, and it is a big, big issue. We talk about player welfare, player burn-out; we talk about looking after our players. This is not looking after players,” he said.

The problem arose because the Ulster championship ran out of time because the Down-Tyrone semi-final took three matches to resolve.

Meanwhile, Tipperary make eight changes to the side that trimmed Galway in Salthill two weeks ago. Brendan Cummins, Eddie Connolly, Paddy Stapleton, Conor O’Mahony, James Woodlock, Noel McGrath, Seán Carey and Michael Heffernan come into the team.

Wexford make one change to the side that defeated Cork two weeks ago for Sunday’s critical trip to Thurles where Colm Bonnar’s team have to get something if they are to avoid returning to Division Two after just one season.

Willie Doran, who was injured in the Cork match, is replaced by Oulart-The Ballagh’s Garrett Sinnot. Wexford actually won the most recent league meeting between the counties, six years ago in Thurles 2-19 to 2-15.

Offaly make two changes for the visit to table-toppers Kilkenny. Stephen Wynne comes in for Dylan Hayden and Cathal Parlon replaces Ger Healion. If Wexford fail to pick up any points, Offaly are safe regardless of the result at Nowlan Park.

TIPPERARY (NHL v Wexford): B Cummins; E Connolly, P Curran, P Stapleton; D Young, C O’Mahony, J Coghlan; J Woodlock, S McGrath; B Dunne, N McGrath, S Carey; M Heffernan, P Bourke, J O’Brien.

WEXFORD: N Breen, P Roche, M OHanlon, K Rossiter; L Prendergast, D Stamp, C Kenny; D Redmond, E Quigley; PJ Nolan, H Kehoe, S Banville; R Jacob, G Sinnott, J Berry.

OFFALY (NHL v Kilkenny): J Dempsey; D Franks, D Kenny, S Egan; M Verney, R Hanniffy. D Morkan; C Mahon, S Wynne; B Carroll, C Egan, D Molloy; C Parlon, J Bergin, S Dooley.