A potentially explosive club versus county row has been avoided following the cancellation of a Division 1 League game this weekend.
By Chris McNulty, Donegal Sport Hub
Sunday’s All-County Football League game between Naomh Conaill and Gaoth Dobhair has been postponed after lengthy dialogue between the Gaoth Dobhair club and the Competitions Controls Committee (CCC) this week.
Gaoth Dobhair have seven players on the Donegal Under-21 panel that is set to face Tyrone on Wednesday night in the Ulster Under-21 Championship.
Kieran Gillespie, Cian Mulligan, Niall Friel, Daire Ó Baoill, Micheál Carroll, Gavin McBride and Naoise Ó Baoill are all involved with the county under-21s and will be unavailable for club action on Sunday.
While Gaoth Dobhair had initially hoped that a couple would be released, a raft of injuries in the county squad means that the players won’t be able to line out for their clubs.
County manager Declan Bonner will be missing Gillespie, Mulligan, Christian Bonner, Jason McGee and Conor Doherty for the Healy Park joust
An initial request from the Gaoth Dobhair club to have Sunday’s game put back was turned down by the CCC.
The matter was raised by Gaoth Dobhair and others at Monday night’s sitting of the Donegal County Committee in Ballybofey.,
In what has been described as ‘a move of desperation’, Gaoth Dobhair even liaised with the Gaelic Players Association (GPA).
While the GPA were said to have been ‘sympathetic and concerned’ at the matter, the body was unable to intervene given that they only represent senior inter-county players.
Last night the CCC met and agreed to postpone the fixture, meaning that extreme measures, such as the withdrawal of players from county duty – which is believed to have been mooted at one stage this week – has been avoided ahead of the opening weekend of the League season.
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