The Mary I Trench Cup team were training last night.

They're not sure what for. On Monday afternoon, the Limerick teacher training college received a letter with the fixtures for the semi-finals of the Trench Cup weekend. Going on the information of that letter, the defending champions won't have a part to play in the Mallow showcase, despite the fact that they haven't yet been knocked out of the competition. That letter is the only communication they've received from the CCC in the last week, despite numerous attempts to get in touch with the Competition Controls' Committee. https://twitter.com/D_MacG97/status/1093586777577873408

What is the problem?

So Mary I were supposed to play their Round Two clash against Ulster University Coleraine at 7.45 on Wednesday January 30. That was at a time of heavy snow up north and with the men of Coleraine unable to travel down to Abbotstown for the game, Mary I agreed, to their credit, to re-fix the game for the following Tuesday. That Thursday wouldn't have suited because Mary I had a Fitzgibbon game, and a couple of players are involved with both teams. Mary I defeated Coleraine by five points in Grangegorman and though the team's captain James McNeive told us that they didn't get back from Dublin until 2.00 on Wednesday morning, the trouble was only beginning. The powers that be informed them on Thursday, the day of the college's Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup quarter final, that they would be playing GMIT the following day, with the game fixed for Friday at 1.30 in the GMIT pitches. Unsurprisingly, Mary I refused to fulfil that fixture. Mary I closes at 1.30 on a Friday. College students all over the country go home for the weekend, for training, for their part-time jobs and for other reasons.

"Rarely, if ever, is a college GAA game played of a Friday, so we stood our ground," said McNeive to SportsJOE.

They contacted GMIT seeking a re-fixture, they contacted Croke Park. GMIT refused and so did the CCC, wait for it... on player welfare reasons.

"Complete hypocrisy," says McNeive. "They said it would have been unfair to have players playing three times in one week, yet they had requested us to do exactly that the week previous," he continued.

Unreasonable punishment

And so it appears the CCC have planned for the semi-finals of this competition without Mary I, and without contacting them.

"They've bypassed our fixture," said the team's captain. "We'd lads training last night, we're completely in the dark, we don't know what's going on and though we tried to contact the CCC, they're basically ignoring us."

The HE GAA website hasn't been updated with the fixtures, though the letter they received has GMIT down for Friday's semi-final. They will attempt to appeal this decision, but for the moment, they're in limbo.