THE Donegal County Board has moved swiftly and decisively to end any dispute over the county team’s homecoming after the All-Ireland – the events will go ahead on Monday, September 24th at 8pm in Donegal Town.
This follows bids by both Bundoran and Letterkenny to stage the homecoming event.
It will go ahead, win or lose.
Four Masters Club spokesman Sean Dunnion confirmed to Donegal Daily that they had been approached by the County Board and were instructed to prepare for the homecoming.
“The county secretary Hugh Martin Ferry contacted us and told us to prepare for a homecoming on the Monday night at 8pm and that is what we will do.
“Hopefully that will be with the Sam Maguire Cup. But thankfully this will now put to bed all this speculation and allow the team to knuckle down to the task in hand,” he said.
It follows public furore over how the bids of the other two towns were handled.
We understand Jim McGuinness and all his players were unanimous in their view that the Diamond in Donegal Town was their preferred venue.
It’s understood that Letterkenny may host some sort of event, possibly on the Tuesday, if the players wish to take part.
Earlier Jim McGuinness had described any discussions about the homecoming as “disrespectful” to Mayo and to his players and staff.
“We didn’t want this to fester any longer because it gave the impression that we were preparing some sort of celebration and this wasn’t the case. It just gave the wrong impression,” we were told this morning.
