Fans disappointed at the choice of venue

LOCAL GAA fans are disappointed at the news that this year's Intermediate Championship final between Cullaville and Sarsfields will be held at Crossmaglen on Sunday, October 3.

Sarsfields supporters and scores of fans from other clubs in the North Armagh area believe that the decider should have been taken to a neutral part of the county and hopes were high that the game could have been played in Armagh City at either Abbey Park or Ballycrummy.

Some sources suggested this week that a county bye-law states that all county finals should be played at a county ground.

However Seamus McDonagh, Secretary of the Armagh CCC, the body which took the decision to hold the final in Crossmaglen, said that he was not aware of any such bye-law and stated that Crossmaglen was the best ground available to hold the game.

Whilst it should be stated that the surface at the Rangers’ ground is second to none, and that Crossmaglen’s willingness to provide good stewarding has always been evident, many Gaels from North Armagh will feel that they have been disenfranchised considering the long journey between the north of the county and St Oliver Plunkett Park.

Whilst the ‘MAIL’ made a conscious decision not to seek the opinions of the Sarsfields management on the choice of venue, who would be concentrating on purely football matters at the moment, it is understood that Sarsfields Chairman Declan McAlinden expressed his concerns at a County Board meeting last week but was told that no mechanism of appeal was currently on the statute books.

Sarsfields beat Silverbridge in the semi-final, with St Peter’s going out at the same stage to Cullaville, and many St. Peter’s supporters had been looking forward to attending the final at a more convenient venue which would have suited all neutrals and both sets of supporters from both teams.

Back in 2004, the Intermediate final was played at Silverbridge and in 2006, Keady was the venue for the decider, neither of which are county grounds.

Maghery’s ground also has all of the facilities required to hold an Intermediate final, including a press box, turnstiles and a public address system as well as properly enclosed fencing.

But ironically should the Loughshore club win this Saturday’s Senior quarter-final against St Pat’s, they are scheduled to play Crossmaglen at Cullyhanna or Silverbridge in the semi-final, a scenario which may ruffle a few feathers should the eventuality arise.

Considering that Intermediate Championship finals have been staged at club grounds in the past and Abbey Park, for example, would have been ideal for this year’s decider it is believed that fewer supporters from this end of the county will make the trip to Crossmaglen on October 3.

Whilst the CCC would stress that Crossmaglen is technically the best available venue in the county, implementing the spirit of the law with a view to accommodating all supporters and both participating teams would have eased the financial burden and ensured a larger crowd.

The Armagh CCC Secretary told the ‘MAIL’ that both clubs who are participating in this year’s Junior final, namely Tullysaran and Grange, requested that the Crossmaglen ground should be used for their game.

In the light of all of this perhaps an amount of pressure from the Sarsfields club could have been applied prior to the meeting held to decide the venue.

Considering the recent decision to play the Sarsfields v Cullaville game at Crossmaglen, could it be calculated that had St Peter’s reached the final, that the Whites and the Highmoss would have been forced to travel to the South Armagh venue also?

Meanwhile, on league matters, it looks increasingly likely that both Killeavey and Mullaghbawn will be relegated from this season’s division one.

If both Whitecross and Sarsfields win on Saturday they will have consolidated their top flight status. This would also give Clan na Gael an improved chance to avoid the drop considering that the Blues travel to ‘Trasna on Sunday week and the Sarsfields may already be safe.

In division two St Peter’s must win all of their remaining matches, starting with this week’s fixtures against Clann ireann and Keady.

ire g, who are not quite safe yet, have a tough encounter against Tullysaran this weekend.

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