Steelstown GAC have hit out at the Ulster Ladies Council after not being able to field a team in their Ulster ladies intermediate championship semi-final two days ago.

The Derry club had been scheduled to play Cavan opponents Castlerahan/Denn at St Aidan’s Park, Bawnboy on Wednesday evening last, but the match venue was switched to Kingspan Breffni’s 3G pitch instead.

The change was at short notice, so much to the point that Steelstown’s team bus had to turnaround on their original route to Cavan as the players did not have the correct footwear with them for a 3G surface and were concerned about the risks of playing on it with metal studs.

The game was set to take place just 72 hours after the Derry champions’ quarter-final win over Ballyshannon and, speaking to BBC Radio Foyle, Steelstown’s chairman Paul O’Hea described the whole situation as “a mess”

"It's been very disappointing from Ulster Ladies in how they've handled this whole thing," O'Hea stated.

He added: "Our girls were on the bus, they'd got off work, arranged cover, some of them came from England. After the bus has left, we get an email, not even a phone call. You'd think something time sensitive would be communicated in a phone call.

"We got the email to say the venue's been changed. Our first concern was that it was a longer journey time to Breffni Park.

"We asked if it could be pushed back to 20:00 GMT, but the girls were saying 'we don't have boots for 3G' because they expected to be playing on grass."

**UPDATE ON LADIES SEMI-FINAL MATCH**

Unfortunately tonight’s semi final is not going ahead. We would like to thank everyone for their support over the last year . A disappointing evening for all 💙💛 Utó pic.twitter.com/HaToylZW0U

— Steelstown Brian Ógs (@BrianOgs) November 2, 2022

In an official statement, Derry LGFA also expressed its “deep regret” at the entire fiasco.

"The Derry LGFA executive wish to express our deep regret at the hurdles Steelstown Brian Ogs Senior Ladies Football team have had to scale in their Ulster Intermediate club series run the past fortnight and more so in the events of the past 24 hours,” the statement read.

"Narrowly beaten in the final of last year’s Ulster Intermediate Final they dusted themselves down, regrouped and worked harder than ever to put themselves back in contention for the 2022 Ulster club Intermediate title.

"To see pictures of Ulster officials standing on a 3G pitch last night knowing that the Steelstown team would not be fielding shared widely on social media was deeply hurtful and insensitive.

"As were other unnecessary pictures and posts on social media. Players are only human, club coaches are for the most part volunteers.

"The passion for ladies football burns brightly in all our active clubs and schools across North and South Derry. At county level we are trying very hard. Every year the playing numbers increase across all groups, more clubs start the code and wile success might be slower than other counties in Ulster every small gain deserves the same respect.

"We are all aware of the magnitude of the climb in this county but have been heartened by the Steelstown Brian Og journey the last few years. They have been an inspirational driving force to all our young girls footballers in the county.

"We hope that Ulster Ladies Council reflect on the unrealistic expectations they placed on this senior ladies team in the last two weeks.

"The central ethos of any GAA code should always be to do everything possible to enhance, support and protect the players. Never make it any harder to achieve success than it already is.”

Tweet

Most Read Stories