Durrow GAA Club to discuss options after concession of walkover in senior football tie

DURROW have taken the drastic, very unsatisfactory step of conceding a walkover in their final Tullamore Court Hotel Senior Football Championship game against Rhode this weekend.

Their decision is not a huge shock but it is one that does not sit well at all and is certain to have significant repercussions in the club and their relationship with their sister club in Ballinamere.

Durrow have several players who play senior hurling with Ballinamere and with Durrow out of contention for a quarter-finals, Ballinamere playing Kilcormac-Killoughey in a senior hurling quarter-final on Saturday week, there was a fear that this could happen. It had been hoped that the wider, long term picture, the greater good of both codes and the dynamic between the two clubs, would be paramount but this has not happened.

Durrow met on Tuesday night and with most of their senior hurlers opting out of the football fixture, they had only thirteen players available and a walkover was conceded officially on Thursday morning.

Club secretary Tony Hensey stated that they had a few injuries and some of their juniors were not available – drafting juniors up would not have been a satisfactory solution anyway against a team of Rhode's quality and would have opened up the likelihood of a really bad beating.

“The hurlers had decided not to play, they said it is a dead rubber game. We are very disappointed, we are meeting tonight to discuss it and see what our options are,” Mr Hensey remarked.

The first repercussions of the decision means that Rhode are now top of group 1 but will be overtaken for a semi-final berth by Edenderry if they beat Ballycommon on Saturday evening. It also means that Durrow will be hit with a €200 fine but that is the only sanction they face – there is no relegation from senior football this year and had there been, there may very possibly have been a different stance taken by their hurlers and there would have been much more pressure on them to play.

Ciaran Burke, Ross Ravenhill, Jack Fogarty, Brian Duignan, Steven Doran, Dan Bourke, David Magner, Mark Troy and Sam Bourke all played for Durrow in their last senior football loss to Durrow and for Ballinamere in their defeat by Birr last weekend.

Mr Hensey confirmed that five or six of the hurlers had decided not to play but a couple were available, which suggests that Ballinamere left the decision to the players themselves.

Ciaran Burke, Ross Ravenhill, Jack Fogarty, Brian Duignan, Sam and Dan Bouke and Mark Troy are all Durrow members and have permission to hurl with Ballinamere – even though hurling is the game of choice for most and those seven were all on the Offaly senior hurling panel this year.

Another dual player, Kevin McDermott hasn't played hurling this year. A member of a powerful Durrow GAA family, McDermott had been outstanding in many of the early games last year as Ballinamere reached the county final, losing to Kilcormac-Killoughey. His unavailability this year has been the source of much discussion in both Durrow and Ballinamere ends of the parish.

Ballinamere and Durrow joined together in 2006 when Ballinamere disbanded their football club and Durrow decided not to field hurling teams. This arrangement has worked very well for the two clubs with Durrow reaching senior football while Ballinamere have emerged as a huge senior hurling force. The presence of so many Durrow members on the Ballinamere team is an anomaly as Durrow is very much traditional football territory but many of this golden generation of hurler grew up on the one stretch of road, not far from Durrow GAA field, and their fathers were key figures in this remarkable development – Mark Troy's father Jim and Brian Duignan's father, Michael were former Offaly hurlers who moved into the area from Lusmagh and Banagher, respectively.

Former Offaly GAA chairman Michael Duignan, a member of the Durrow club, is the Ballinamere joint manager while Ross Ravenhill's father, Stephen is a Ballinamere selector this year.

Many of those dual players are also very good footballers. Ciaran Burke, Ross Ravenhill and Dan Bourke would be county standard footballers if concentrating on that code while Jack Foagrty has been previously asked into the Offaly senior football panel, opting to join the hurling one.

Durrow had lost their opening games to Edenderry, Ferbane and Ballycommon. They were poor against Ferbane but had excellent spells against Edenderry and Ballycommon, putting it up to a rejuvenated Edenderry for long periods and they were not that far away. They also took the game to Ballycommon but fell off the pace in the second half – Durrow did not perform well when pressure came to bear in the second half of a couple of those games while the lack of football practice in some of their hurlers was very clear.

Having said that, their hurlers certainly committed to the Durrow cause and were among their best players in their campaign up to now. They played with great heart and the improvement that Brian Duignan made was noticeable from the first round against Edenderry to their last game against Ballycommon, while many of the others would be more natural footballers.

There is a lot of pressure on Ballinamere who entered the campaign with high expectations after going so close last year but just haven't clicked yet. They suffered group defeats against Coolderry and Birr and fell into the quarter-finals, thanks to Coolderry's one point win over Tullamore last weekend. They just haven't recaptured their 2024 form yet and last week's results threw them into a quarter-final with Kilcormac-Killoughey. There will be serious circling of the wagons going on in Ballinamere this week as they bid to turn things around. With so many county hurlers at their disposal, they remain genuine title contenders with the ability to take out Kilcormac-Killoughey who are also stuttering a bit – Durrow's walkover does add to this pressure and increases the scrutiny on Ballinamere.

In a way, the decision of some of those dual players is understandable and not a surprise but it is also very unfortunate and creates a very awkward situation for Durrow GAA Club. Walkovers just should not be conceded in senior football and hurling, no matter what the stakes are, and it is a pity to see this happening.

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Other clubs manage their dual commitments without conceding walkovers – even when one team is out and the other is still on the road. Ferbane and Belmont have an identical football and hurling arrangement to Durrow and Ballinamere and it is inconceivable that one of them would concede a walkover, irrespective of the circumstances or where the teams were.