“We have lost all confidence in governance of Donegal GAA.”
Donegal have “reluctantly accepted” the resignation of Karl Lacey as head of their GAA development academy, despite trying to keep him onboard.
Lacey had handed in his resignation last month, citing a “lack of support” as the core reason behind his decision.
The county board tried to convince the 2012 Footballer of the Year to stay on in the role, but failed to reach an agreement.
In a statement, Donegal said they had “exhausted all avenues of mediation.”
In their statement released on Tuesday, Donegal GAA thanked Lacey for his ‘outstanding and exemplary efforts’ but also stated that they ‘are not happy with the arrangements as implemented in the Football Academy.’
“To be clear there is absolutely no suggestion or inference that there was any mal intent or neglect on the part of the Head of Academy or the Coaches,” the statement continued.
“Donegal Management Committee approached the Head of Academy on a number of occasions to try and resolve the matters, but without success.
“Relations came to a critical point when the head of the Academy decided to offer his resignation. This was followed a week later by a statement by the Coaches.
Donegal GAA added that their management, “greatly regrets, not only the damage that this has caused to GAA within the county, but particularly to the damage and concern it has caused our young players and families who were involved in the Academy.
“Members of the County Executive spoke to and met with Karl on a number of occasions to see if a meeting could be organised to address the arrangements issues. Again this did not succeed.”
The four time All-Star had the full support of his coaching staff when he made the decision to leave, and they made this public in an open letter to the county board.
“We regret to inform you that the coaches, performance support and logistics support involved in the Donegal Academy are stepping down from their duties with immediate effect,” said a letter addressed to the Donegal county board, which has now been made public.
The statement added that the county’s under-20 and under-17 football managers Leo McLoone and Luke Barrett would remain in their roles for this season because “the integrity of our competitions must be preserved”.
“We would all like express our full support for the head of academy development and are extremely disappointed in how he was treated in his role,” added the letter.
“Our deepest regret lies with the approximately 350 young Donegal players which are currently at standstill, who we coached and bonded with over the past 18 months and indeed their parents/guardians who were equally as committed.
“However, the coaches, performance support and logistics support feel that the development vision and pathway for Donegal is not aligned with or supported by the leadership within the county. As a group, we have lost all confidence in governance of Donegal GAA.”
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