Last night we reported that the Armagh Senior Football Championship game between Crossmaglen Rangers and Dromintee quickly descended into farce after Dromintee were forced to field a 'team' of veterans and other non-playing club members, some of whom were wearing jeans and other non-sports clothing, because a wedding was taking place in their community yesterday.
Apparently Crossmaglen took the 'match' somewhat seriously for eight minutes or so, during which they notched an unanswered 1-8, then held a training session on the field. The Dromintee 'players' proceeded to kick the ball among themselves for the remainder of the 'game'.
When one of the Dromintee contingent kicked the ball over the sideline, the referee asked one of the Cross players to take the line ball. Aaron Kernan did so and immediately returned to the training session.
Dromintee were in danger of facing a 48-week ban from all grades - underage teams included - if they failed to fulfil the fixture.
Despite this unsavory situation, Crossmaglen co-manager John McEntee had little sympathy for Dromintee's situation and branded their actions on the night "an absolute disgrace".
Speaking to Armagh GAA journalist Manus Loughran, McEntee said:
They’re great fellas that they would come out and do this for their club but to think that a senior team would embarrass themselves and their community, completely disrespect us and the county football structure as a whole is incredible,
Had Dromintee not fielded, they would have been suspended for six months. Rather than having their juvenile teams thrown out of the championship or suspended from football for six months, their committee members and a collection of the guys from in and around Dromintee decided to come out and effectively humiliate themselves in front of an audience, which is actually an absolute disgrace.
When asked what he would have done himself if put in the same situation, McEntee said:
Fairly simple, you would have turned up and played the match. You probably would have used it as motivation if you thought that there was an injustice done. I’m not sure there is.
You wouldn’t disgrace your club the way those boys have done.
We haven’t had a competitive match in three weeks and we’re not having one today. We’ve two more weeks until we play the next round of the championship and it’s not ideal preparation but we just have to get on with it.
What do you think? Should the Armagh county board have taken the needs of a small community into consideration and granted Dromintee's request for a postponement, or was McEntee right to slate their actions on the night?
[BBC, TheScore]
Brought to you by AIB, proud sponsor of the GAA Club Championships.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHeqK1UMjEQ&feature=youtu.be
