Donegal have expressed disappointment at the decision to only provide their senior footballers six days to prepare for an All-Ireland SFC quarter-final – saying the welfare of their players was not “adequately considered” during the process.
The Ulster champions have been tasked with overcoming the short turnaround after the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee fixed Donegal’s quarter-final against the Farney County for 4pm this Saturday at Croke Park.
They are the only team faced with managing a six-day window as Galway’s quarter-final against Meath has been scheduled for Sunday at GAA headquarters – giving the Tribesmen a seven-day turnaround.
Donegal beat Louth in a preliminary quarter-final in Ballybofey last Sunday while Galway overcame Down in Newry on the same afternoon. GAA fixture makers say a determining factor in providing Galway with the Sunday fixture ahead of Donegal was because the Connacht champions had to travel away last weekend.
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But in a statement released on Monday night, Donegal GAA said: “No other county has played as many matches as Donegal in this year’s championship.
“To compound the physical and mental demands, those eight games have been played within an 11-week window. Match number nine comes this Saturday, less than 12 weeks after playing Derry in the Ulster Championship Preliminary round on April 6th.
“On that basis, we thought it wholly reasonable and fully justified to seek an extra day recovery time for our players this weekend. Coiste Chontae Dhún na nGall concludes that it is most regrettable, and very disappointing, that our request has been turned down. We feel the welfare of our players was not adequately considered in the decision making process.”
Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final will be their ninth match of the campaign – having already played Derry (in Ballybofey), Monaghan (Clones), Down (Clones), Armagh (Clones), Tyrone (Ballybofey), Cavan (Cavan), Mayo (Roscommon), Louth (Ballybofey).
Sunday will be Galway’s eighth game of the championship – the Tribesmen have already played New York (New York), Roscommon (Salthill), Mayo (Castlebar), Dublin (Salthill), Derry (Derry), Armagh (Cavan), Down (Newry).
The CCCC were left in a quandary with trying to square the circle in terms of the four fixtures because it was always going to prove difficult to facilitate requests from all eight counties.
The core problem centred on the likelihood of both Dublin v Tyrone and Armagh v Kerry attracting massive numbers of spectators. With those matches possibly pushing towards selling out even if they were standalone fixtures, the demand to attend that pairing on the same bill would have left thousands of fans without tickets.
Fixture makers did still consider the possibility of scheduling that double-header but after examining the expected attendance figures they determined those games should be on different days.
There was no consideration given to fixing any of the matches at alternative venues (for example Monaghan v Donegal in Clones on Sunday) as Central Council policy is that all four quarter-finals should take place at Croke Park.
Ultimately, the determining factor was that Donegal played their preliminary quarter-final against Louth at home in Ballybofey last Sunday while Galway travelled to Newry to play Down.
Feargal McGill, the GAA’s director of club, player and games administration, said the CCCC found themselves in an extremely knotty situation as every possible outcome was going to leave some county aggrieved.
“Given the ticket expectation it wouldn’t have been possible to have both Tyrone-Dublin and Kerry-Armagh on the same bill,” says McGill.
“Once you accepted that reality you were left with a very difficult choice to make as to whether it’s Donegal to go on the Saturday or Galway to go on the Saturday. Both counties put forward strong cases and we took all of their points on board.
“It really was an extremely difficult decision to make and it literally came down to the fact Galway had to travel last weekend and Donegal didn’t.”
Following Donegal’s round-robin win against Mayo at Dr Hyde Park two weeks ago, Jim McGuinness was critical of the CCCC over the choice of venue for that game.
“We don’t believe we should have been here today either, being honest with you. We think it was very unfair to bring us here,” said the Donegal manager.
“I think that would only happen because it’s us.”
Another element of the fixture jigsaw is the broadcast rights for matches. With GAA+ effectively taking the Saturday slot, a Dublin-Tyrone and Kerry-Armagh double-header would have put the two most high-profile games behind a paywall.
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But with RTÉ showing both of the Sunday fixtures live, it ensures the Armagh-Kerry game will be carried by the national broadcaster.
General sale of tickets for the Saturday games will begin at 11 o’clock on Tuesday morning. The sale of tickets for the Sunday double-header will start at 1pm.
Meanwhile, Cork’s All-Ireland senior hurling championship semi-final against Dublin at Croke Park on Saturday July 5th is set to be a sell-out with no tickets remaining on sale on Ticketmaster on Monday night.
Dublin caused one of the biggest shocks in hurling history last Saturday by beating Limerick, despite the Dubs playing most of the game with just 14 men.
Tickets for their All-Ireland semi-final against the Rebels went on sale at 12pm on Monday but within two hours only a limited number of Nally Stand tickets were available and by Monday night the Ticketmaster website had no tickets for sale.
Tickets for the second semi-final, between Kilkenny and Tipperary on Sunday July 6th, went on sale at 2pm on Monday and are still available for all sides of the stadium – seating and standing.
ALL-IRELAND SFC QUARTER-FINAL FIXTURES
SATURDAY, JUNE 28th
Donegal v Monaghan; Croke Park, 4pm (Live on GAA+)
Dublin Tyrone; Croke Park, 6.15pm (Live on GAA+)
SUNDAY, JUNE 29th
Meath v Galway; Croke Park, 1.45pm (Live on RTÉ)
Armagh v Kerry; Croke Park, 4pm (Live on RTÉ)
