Curse of Donegal strikes again as club team makes three-hour round-trip for no game

It’s bad enough in Donegal without this nonsense.

The club championships being delayed until the county season was over under Jim McGuinness’ tenure became notorious.

Club players – you know, a good 95% of the GAA population – were forced to put their lives on hold and train pointlessly with no real date or fixture to target.

Then you have geography issues which come naturally with living in the hills.

This season alone, some of the treks Donegal natives had to make were horrendous.

Naomh Columba to Malin (Division Two)

Aodh Ruadh to Urris (Division Three)

Fanad Gaels to Urris (Division Three)

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Club football is back in Donegal and so are the longest journeys in Ireland for a game https://t.co/flKxsAOvwj #GAA

— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) March 20, 2016

So the waiting around is one thing. The travel is another thing. And, make no mistake, they are two, big annoying things too.

But what if, when you finally get a game scheduled and you finally make it 90 minutes to the other side of the county, the referee doesn’t show up?

Well it happened on Sunday.

Naomh Bríd, located right down in the south of Donegal in Trummon, made the journey up to Fanad to face-off with Gaeil Fhanada for a Division Three league game, only for no official to appear.

According to Donegal Sport Hub, appointed referee Goerge Montgomery was in Dublin at the time throw-in was supposed to take place.

Both teams had warmed up, both teams were ready for the 3.30pm clash, but no-one was there to look after it.

Naomh Bríd manager, Sean Timoney, told Donegal Sport Hub that they were informed 10 minutes after the set throw-in time that another referee could be with them in 45 minutes. They had already travelled the guts of 100km, they had to do the same journey back and lads had to make it home in time for a bus back to Dublin.

Playing an hour after throw-in – if the new ref made it on time – was not an option.

So they spent their Sunday driving, warming up, and driving. What else would you do with your weekend?

That’s what the GAA is all about, isn’t it?

Listen to The GAA Hour live in Castlebar with Brendan Devenney, James Horan, and Pillar Caffrey. Subscribe here on iTunes.

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10