Sunday Game pundit claims his Midlands county had no option but to pull out of Leinster GAA competition

RTÉ Sunday Game pundit and Offaly GAA chairman Michael Duignan has claimed that they had no option but to withdraw the Offaly senior football team from the O'Byrne Cup.

Offaly conceded a walkover in the semi-final against Louth last Sunday citing concern about player welfare and playing three games in eight days – after recording a fine win over a very experimental Dublin side last Wednesday, manager Liam Kearns suggested that they would withdraw and hit out at Louth being allowed to stay in the competition despite conceding a fixture to Wexford that same night.

Michael Duignan told a meeting of the Offaly GAA County Board on Monday evening that they had asked Louth for a postponement but they didn't agree to one. He stated that he couldn't understand their stance as they are playing Longford in the final anyway this Saturday while he claimed that Offaly would have had only 18-19 players available last Sunday.

Acknowledging that the withdrawal had not gone down well with everyone and noting that it had received a lot of media and social media attention, he confirmed that they had initial reservations about entering the competition. He said Leinster GAA had originally said colleges players couldn't play but later changed their mind.

“We have 13 players involved in Sigerson Cup and anyone will know the emphasis we are placing on third level and players playing there. It is a huge part of their development, whether Sigerson Cup or Fitzgibbon Cup in hurling.”

Mr Duignan said that Offaly did not know they would be playing three games in eight days when they entered the competition – he said that Wicklow and Dublin played the first night and if Offaly had played in that fixture, there would have been a gap between games which would have “made it much easier for us”.

He outlined that they had 26 players in Parnell Park last Wednesday, two were injured and two more got injured during the match. Another turned up injured the next day and a couple were sick.

He addressed comments Liam Kearns made about Louth not playing Wexford, saying they were made in the heat of the moment and were not a factor in their decision.

“While Liam Kearns came out on the Wednesday night after the match and made some comments about Louth not playing their match, that had absolutely zero to do with our decision. That was Louth's own decision. They were through and it was a dead rubber. It was a long trip and midweek matches are another issue.

“We had only 18-19 players available for Sunday and for us to field a team, we would have had to play eight players who played the previous two matches and it would have been their third match in eight days. Without even medical advice, we can't risk these players.”

He said the decision was made in consultation with Liam Kearns and captain, Declan Hogan.

“Declan Hogan made a very interesting comment on Friday morning. He said to me I'm still wrecked from Wednesday night. We got home at 12.30-1am, I was up for work the next morning and I am still wrecked.”

Mr Duignan said that most players sat out a training session on Friday night while the squad trained at the weekend.

He also commented on suggestions that Offaly had let down a fellow county man and the Leinster GAA chairman Pat Teehan, who is running for GAA presidency next month, by withdrawing.

“Pat is a great supporter of Offaly. We didn't want to withdraw from the O'Byrne Cup. We entered it in good faith, we wanted to play and it is not Offaly's style to withdraw from competitions. I apologised to Pat for pulling out. He is an Offaly man and he is chairman of Leinster. His last comment was, no problem, what could ye do? We have no problem with Pat as far as we are concerned.”

He revealed Offaly had proposed that the game against Louth go back a week. If Offaly won, they would have doubled up their Leinster championship match with Longford later in the year as the final while he said, if Louth had won, they would have been able to find a date somewhere. He was not happy with Louth not helping Offaly out.

“I rang their Chairman and explained our position. He said he would talk to management and came back and said no. I'll be honest with you, I don't understand their logic. They are now still playing a match on Saturday. If they had agreed to play us, Longford would have agreed to put back the final and we were saying if we were in the final and playing Longford, we are playing them in the first round of the championship and we would have doubled it up as the O'Byrne Cup final and if we weren't in it, I'm sure Longford and Louth would have found a date somewhere along the way to play it.”

He stated that it is Croke Park's guidelines that there be no matches until you have six weeks training done but there were then three fixtures in eight days.

“It is a complete contradiction. We had no choice and we weren't willing to put our players at risk. If we got a few more days, we were anxious to play it. We were going well and it was great for us. The lads showed great heart and determination to win the first couple.”

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Mr Duignan concluded by calling for the O'Byrne and Walsh Cups to revert to a knockout basis, saying that not every competition needs to be round robin. He spoke about the importance of colleges competitions.

“We want to give our lads a proper opportunity at third level. It is massive and we want our players there. We feel in time, we will benefit hugely from our players playing at that level.”