Aughnasheelin want "home advantage" for refixed Connacht Club Intermediate Semi-Final

Aughnasheelin GAA club will be urging the Leitrim County Board and Connacht GAA to ensure the Leitrim Intermediate champions maintain “home advantage” for the refixed AIB Connacht Club Intermediate Championship Semi-Final after the game was called off on Sunday.

Originally fixed for Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada, Aughnasheelin’s clash with Roscommon champions St Dominic’s was moved to Cloone after the Carrick-on-Shannon was deemed unplayable after a 10 am pitch inspection on Sunday. Cloone GAA Club answered the call to stage the game but after a pitch inspection by referee Christopher Ryan, the pitch was deemed unplayable.

UPDATED - Aughnasheelin Connacht Semi Final off as Cloone pitch deemed unplayable

Connacht GAA officials tried to have the game switched to the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence in Bekan with a later throw-in time of 4 pm but agreement was not forthcoming with the game due to be refixed at Monday’s meeting of the Connacht Competitions Control Committee.

Connacht GAA have said that all tickets purchased for the postponed fixture will be valid for the refixed game as will as tickets for the livesteam of the game which were purchased.

Tickets purchased for this game will be valid for the refixture or you can request a refund through https://t.co/AqTNPxM2eK which will be issued as soon as possible.

All stream purchases will also be valid for the refixture.

— Connacht GAA (@ConnachtGAA) November 20, 2022

And Aughnasheelin club chairman Adrian Cullen has insisted that the Leitrim club will be looking to retain home advantage and called on the County Board to support them at the Connacht meeting.

Officials and players discuss the situation in Cloone before Sunday's postponed AIB Connacht Club Intermediate Championship Semi-Final Picture: Willie Donnellan

“Absolutely still looking for home advantage, absolutely,” was Adrian’s succinct reply to whether Aughnasheelin would be looking to maintain a home venue for the refixed game, adding “All we can do is hopefully the County Board will be able to back us at the CCC Connacht meeting on Monday evening to make sure that we don’t lose home advantage next weekend.”

Adrian also backed the call to postpone the game and stressed the matter was beyond the control of local officials: “Ultimately player welfare has to be taken into consideration and in fairness to the County Board, they checked Pairc Sean this morning at 10 am, it wasn’t playable. 

“They contacted Cloone then, Cloone did an inspection and at that stage, the pitch was payable but a couple of hours makes an awful difference unfortunately at this time of year. Disappointing for our lads, for both teams, but I think it would have been unfair to ask either team play today, especially when it was a change of fixture and then there was the controversy “will it be played, won’t it be played” so players’ minds wouldn’t have been right for the game.”

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The idea of switching the game to the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence was a non-runner: “To be fair, if anybody saw the images of Bekan yesterday, the hurling match that was played there, I think it would be unfair and I think it would be disrespectful to both teams. At the end of the day, this is a Connacht Semi-Final, probably the biggest football game some of these lads might ever play so I think both teams deserve it to be played in good conditions.”

There was talk that St Dominic’s may have trouble with the availability of some players next weekend but Adrian said “In terms of weather, none of us have control over that. I mean as far as we’re concerned, it is ‘force majeure’ we can’t control the conditions and that is the disadvantage of playing club football at this time of year.

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“It is misfortune for players and that is the worst thing about it, there are other things in life besides football but at the end of the day, it is a Connacht Semi-Final and some players might never get the chance to play here again. That’s for Dominic’s to deal with and it is up to both clubs to have their players available.”