The FAI looks likely to face a protest from Finn Harps over the decision to allow Dublin Leinster Senior League club Belgrove stage their cup first round replay at their own ground next Wednesday.
Belgrove, drawn away to the Donegal club in the first round, had originally ceded home advantage in the event of a replay but, after Wednesday's game at Finn Park was called off due to a water logged pitch, club officials reconsidered and petitioned the association to allow them to stage the game at Clontarf.
Their wish was granted yesterday, subject to the club meeting a total of eight preconditions, and fixed the game for next Wednesday at 1.45 p.m. at Belgrove Park.
The conditions laid down relate to such things as medical cover, security arrangements and ticketing. But by yesterday afternoon the only one of the eight not yet met by the club was the provision of portable benches for the two teams' substitutes and club secretary John Lyons didn't anticipate any great problem there.
The Dublin club argue that the fact that Wednesday's game was called off meant that the ball, with regard to the location of the replay, was back in their court. The FAI appear to have agreed with them although it is not entirely clear on what they have based their decision.
Certainly Wednesday's postponement caused a considerable amount of disruption for the nonl-eague club which had arranged for all of its players and a number of officials to be off work for the day only to find, at 9 a.m. that there was no game. Still, the rules of the competition appear to state only that the club that does not have the choice of venues after the draw is made shall have it if the first game ends in a draw. Belgrove had this and chose Ballybofey.
"There are a number of problems here," said Finn Harps manager Charlie McGeever yesterday. "I can understand Belgrove wanting to move the game back to Dublin, especially after the second draw threw the possibility of them going to Cork in the second round, but all of our players went through the first game thinking that the replay would be here.
"Through the last 10 minutes I was talking to those players and telling them that after trying to win the game for 80 minutes there was no point in making a mistake in the last 10 because they were coming back up here for the replay anyway. That had an effect on the way we approached the game and the way we played in it and to change the venue now seems a little unfair."
"Aside from which," he added "a kick-off time of 1.45 in Dublin present all sorts of problems for us because of the time that we would have to leave here in order to get to Dublin. We will certainly be looking to find out on what basis the FAI have made this decision and we will consider any other options that we have, but even if the game does go ahead down there, I wouldn't be happy at all with these arrangements for it."
