Gracefield win DRA appeal on legality of Offaly SFC “B”

GRACEFIELD GAA Club have had a sensational win in their Disputes Resolution Authority appeal against the legality of the Offaly Senior “B” Football Championship.

The DRA ruled on Friday evening that the Offaly GAA championship regulations had not been changed to comply with new scoring difference rules.

The full implications of the ruling are not known yet but it throws doubt on the concluding stages of the championship.

The semi-finals between Gracefield and Clonbullogue and Cappincur v Ballycommon are fixed for the weekend of September 9 and 10 but may have to be deferred now.

Old scoring difference rules likely to apply as Offaly GAA assesses implications of DRA ruling

More details will follow with the exact ruling but it is possible that the Offaly County Board will have to play a new quarter-final between Clonbullogue and Ballycumber, who were beaten by Gracefield in a quarter-final last Saturday - if this is the case a new draw for the semi-finals will have to take place. The other quarter-final between Ballycommon and Walsh Island may not have been affected by the ruling.

New rules for applying points difference in the event of a tie with three teams or more came into force this year. It meant that the scoring difference was only counted from the games involving the three teams who tied in group 2, Gracefield, Clonbullogue and Ballycommon in this case. Under the old rules where scoring difference was counted from all games, Gracefield would have been top and directly in the semi-finals. The new rules, however, meant that Clonbullogue were top and Gracefield third, with Ballycommon second.

Gracefield argued that the Offaly GAA championship regulations were not changed to meet the new rules and appealed to Leinster Council, where they lost. They then took their case to the DRA and tried to get last weekend’s quarter-finals postponed. The DRA ruled that they could go ahead as Gracefield had not met the criteria for interim relief but they stated that they were still entitled to a full hearing of their case.

Gracefield grinded out a hard earned win over Ballycumber in the quarter-finals on Saturday. Despite that, they have pursued a full hearing with the DRA and won that case on Friday evening.

It remains to be seen what will happen now – and also if Ballycumber will play a second quarter-final, having lost one last Saturday.