Castlebar and Corofin’s Connacht final threw-in at 2pm sharp on Sunday.
Castlebar were due out onto the pitch at 1.40pm.
Castlebar arrived to come onto the pitch at 1.36pm.
So the stewards kept the gates closed and looked to tell them that they weren’t allowed onto the pitch until their permitted time.
The Mitchels had to jump the wall instead.
The scene caused upset and anger amongst Gaels all over the country who understood what a big game this was for Castlebar and what a non-issue this really was for the stewards at Tuam Stadium.
Bí cúramach! Santy might be watching. @GAA_BEO @CorofinGAA @MitchelsGaa #connachtgaa #thetoughest pic.twitter.com/HberclCT6f
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) November 26, 2017
On the latest episode of SportsJOE Live, Slaughtneil centre back Chrissy McKaigue shared that frustration along with host Colm Parkinson.
Wooly: It’s actually disgraceful. The story behind this was Castlebar came out four minutes before they were supposed to. Two stewards made a team preparing to come out onto the field for a Connacht final jump over a wall.
Chrissy: It’s an epidemic at the minute! The guys in the yellow or orange bibs need to just be completely removed – it’s funny for us but it doesn’t do any good for the GAA. That’s a massive game for people there. Those players have sacrificed a lot of time and to not be allowed on the pitch… and the pitch was a quagmire anyway, so I don’t know what they were trying to achieve.
Wooly: Four minutes, like. You jump over a wall there in long studs and you could easily turn your ankle. It’s dangerous if nothing else. Maybe Tuam is like ‘Welcome to Hell’, like a Galatasaray away stadium – psychological warfare.
