Longford club unhappy at triple booking for hurling final

It’s the showcase weekend.

Longford’s hurling calendar is coming to a close, the Senior Final took place on Sunday.

With no disrespect to Longford, they are far from a hurling stronghold but that doesn’t matter to their club players.

These players don’t care if they are playing in Croke Park or Pearse Park, a Championship Final is a Championship Final.

The hard work that was put in over the course of the year comes down to this one day, one match.

Anyone that has played in a big match such as a championship final will know that the schedule is down to a T, players arrive at a certain time so as to warm up, get themselves changed and be gearing to go.

The last thing you want to do is be left waiting around.

Well, that’s what happened in Longford at the weekend when the two teams competing in the final were given no notice that their game was being delayed for a football match.

Minor Cship semi final moved to Pearse Park

— Longford GAA (@OfficialLDGAA) October 1, 2017

Longford Slashers were playing Wolfe Tones in the senior final with the under 11’s of either clubs also playing and for good measures the under 8’s were playing at half time of the senior final too.

It was a big day out for the two best hurling clubs in Longford but what happened to them was a bit of a mess.

When the two teams rocked up to Pearse Park on Sunday at 1:15 pm they were surprised to see that an unscheduled football fixture was being thrown in, bare in mind the under 11’s final was due to start at two o’clock.

What had happened was this: a Minor Championship semi-final replay was due to be played in Newtownforbes in Longford only to be told that the pitch was unplayable and the match was subsequently moved to the already busy Pearse Park.

That’s all well and good except for the fact that Pearse Park was now overbooked, here are just some of the consequences:

• There are four dressing rooms in the stadium but six teams
• The senior team and under 11’s had to share dressing rooms
• The Longford Slashers senior team had a physio booked for two o’clock but there was no room because two teams were jammed into one training room
• There is no warm-up area in Pearse Park except for the pitch so the Wolfe Tones u 11’s had to warm up in the car park
• The under 11’s final was delayed by 45 minutes
• Both senior teams had to warm up at halftime of the under 11’s final
• The senior final was delayed by 30 minutes

It all just seemed like a bit of a mess and representative from the Longford Slashers told SportsJOE that it isn’t uncommon for hurling to be treated like this in Longford:

“When we queried it we were met with pure arrogance and ignorance,” he said.

“There’s no plan for hurling in the county, they’re just letting it die.”

It wasn’t an ideal day for the Longford Slashers in the end after dealing with the furore, Wolfe Tones won both finals in the end by a single point with two late missed 65’s in both matches, fine margins.

(Image via: Wolfe Tones Facebook) 

(Image via: Longford GAA) 

And the club notes from Longford Slashers says it all as to how they’ve been treated:

“Of course a proud day for both clubs was marred by the treatment of hurling once again by our County Board. With almost no notice and without any consultation, a football match was switched to Pearse Park prior to the hurling finals.. It caused a great deal of confusion for players, management and supporters as both games had to be pushed back by 30 minutes and led to the ludicrous situation of Seniors and children having to tog out in the one dressing room at the same time. After a litany of disrespect this season for the huge efforts being made to keep the game alive in Longford, this really was a slap in the face on what should be the one day where hurling takes precedence in the county. “

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