Offaly withdraw from O'Byrne Cup

OFFALY have dramatically withdrawn from the O'Byrne Cup senior football competition. The decision was announced in a statement released by the Offaly GAA County Board on Friday afternoon.

Offaly were scheduled to play Louth in the semi-final on Sunday in Dowdallshill, near Dundalk after qualifying with victories over Wicklow and Dublin.

They performed particularly well in Wednesday's win over Dublin but manager Liam Kearns hit out at the organisation of the competition afterwards. Noting that Louth had been allowed into the semi-final despite not fulfilling a fixture, he threatened to withdraw from the competition.

The Kerry man told the O'Byrne Cup streaming service, Clubber that Offaly had two games in four days and would end up with three in eight days while Louth would have had a week to prepare.

The O'Byrne Cup has ended up as a farcical competition this year with other counties also failing to fulfill fixtures. Offaly had threatened to withdraw before the start, believing that they could not play colleges players in it. This was incorrect and they went ahead after discovering that they were available, though they were down some players on Wednesday evening because of Sigerson Cup commitments – colleges players could play in the O'Byrne Cup but not if they were playing Sigerson that day or the day before or after.

Now Offaly have taken the drastic step of withdrawing, informing Leinster Council earlier today. They had requested a postponement of the game and Leinster Council were agreeable to this but Louth would not facilitate it. In their statement, Offaly cited a number of injuries, illness and Sigerson Cup commitments as the reason for their withdrawal.

Their statement said:

“Offaly GAA have reluctantly informed Leinster GAA this morning that we will be unable to fulfil our proposed O'Byrne Cup semi-final fixture v Louth on Sunday. Offaly County Board requested a deferral of the game to Friday 20th January or Saturday 21st January, which would have required a new date for the final. Leinster GAA were willing to explore the idea, however, Louth GAA could not facilitate our request. 

“Offaly GAA have a large number of players playing Sigerson Cup next week, and we also have a number of injured and sick players. Following consultation between team management, players and County Board we agreed that we could not field a team without asking a large number of players to play their third match in eight days in current conditions. Medical and player welfare advice was very much against that happening.

“Offaly GAA, our team management and players are fully committed to all competitions we enter and have really enjoyed the O'Byrne Cup challenge over the past week. However, we cannot field a team this weekend without putting some of our players at risk of injury. We will commence a busy schedule of games in the National League on 29th January next and this remains our primary focus at this time.”

On Wednesday evening Liam Kearns had commented: ““To be honest with ya, I wouldn’t mind dropping out of the competition at this stage. We’ve had two hard games in four days. It will be a third game in eight days and our opponents have been sitting at home for the whole week.

“They withdrew from a competition here, they didn’t fulfil their last fixture. That’s the integrity of the competition shot as far as I’m concerned. If you enter a competition, you should have to fulfil your fixtures. They’re going to have a week of rest and we have had a very hard game here (v Dublin) and four days later we’re supposed to play them, and I believe it’s on in Louth as well. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a game too much for us.” 

“They’re shoehorning games into January. The bottom line here is we’ve a load of guys playing Sigerson Cup and we’ve a load of guys trying to play pre-season competitions. What are the pre-season competitions about if you can’t play your best players?

“The reality is it’s 10pm, they’ll be out of here (Parnell Park) at 10.30pm. They might get a quick bite and then they have to make their way home and report to work tomorrow. Like, on a Wednesday night up to Dublin. Then they’re expected to go out four days later.

“The integrity of the competition is everybody should be treated the same. If Louth went and played a match tonight in wherever they were supposed to play, then fair enough. We’d both be going out playing in four days’ time having played a hard game in tough conditions but they didn’t.

“That means now that all the advantages are with Louth. You can dress it up anyway you like; that’s the reality of it.”