Offaly GAA chairman Michael Duignan says Offaly had “no choice” but to withdraw from O’Byrne Cup.

After beating both Wicklow and Dublin in the group phase, Offaly conceded a walkover to Louth in the semi-final, citing player welfare concerns and medical advice – it would have been their third game in eight days – as their reason for doing so. Offaly’s withdrawal came after new senior football manager Liam Kearns had claimed Louth had damaged the integrity of the competition by not fulfilling their last group match against Wexford. Duignan, however, has stressed that this had nothing to do with Offaly’s decision to withdraw and said the Faithful had proposed that the game be postponed by a week.

“I rang their chairman and explained our position,” the 1994 and ’98 All-Ireland SHC winner told delegates at this week’s Offaly county board meeting.

“He said he would talk to management and came back and said no. I'll be honest with you: I don't understand their logic. They are now still playing a match on Saturday.

“If they had agreed to play us, Longford would have agreed to put back the final and we were saying if we were in the final and playing Longford, we are playing them in the first round of the championship and we would have doubled it up as the O'Byrne Cup final and if we weren't in it, I'm sure Longford and Louth would have found a date somewhere along the way to play it.”

Tweet

Most Read Stories