Dolan fears Erne Gaels may not field for Ulster opener

By Shaun Casey

ERNE Gaels are due to take on Armagh champions Sean Treacy’s in the opening round of the Ulster Junior Hurling Championship this Saturday afternoon, but selector Johnny Dolan fears the Fermanagh men may be unable to field a team.

The Fermanagh SFC final, which was due to take place last weekend, was postponed due to the weather and refixed for this Sunday. Erne Gaels take on Enniskillen Gaels and hope to claim their first Senior title since 1981. There is a large crossover of players, as Dolan explains, with six players included on both the club’s hurling and football squads. There are just 25 hours between each game, with the hurlers fearing they will be unable to field.

Erne Gaels suffered a hefty defeat at the hands of Cavan champions Cootehill in the quarter-final of the Ulster Junior Championship last season and will have home advantage against Sean Treacy’s on Saturday should the game go ahead.

“Unfortunately, we have an issue on Saturday whether we’re actually able to field for this game at all. At this date, I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Dolan. “We can’t seem to get agreement to get the game changed to a midweek fixture, which I understand.

“It’s unfortunate for our lads that aren’t dual players, that they possibly won’t get to fulfil this fixture. I’d be hopeful that we could get something sorted between now and Saturday, but to say it’s ideal preparations, it’s far from it.

“When you don’t know if you can field a team to play the first round of the Ulster Junior Hurling Championship, it’s pretty frustrating to be honest. We have six players there and without those six players, we have a small squad.

“Of a good day, you’re talking maybe 20 players, give or take. We have a couple of injuries, a couple of lads away, we could be down to 17 or 18 players very quickly. We’re a small club, we just don’t have the players to deal with that.

“We need everybody available to us, but at the minute, it’s not looking that way. You have to be understandable to the lads that’s playing football because these lads are going out to play a senior football county final.

“They don’t need these distractions. This could have been dealt with, this (hurling) fixture is out, I think, the last eight weeks, as far as I know. This should have been dealt with in time. There was no need for this to go on.”

Dolan feels there could have been an easy solution to the problem, with the football final being played a day earlier last weekend to avoid the fixture clash that the club now finds itself in.

“I don’t understand why the football final couldn’t have been played last Saturday, given every Tom, Dick and Harry knew there was a storm coming on the Sunday. The people that suffer here is the dual players, which, for as long as I can see it, it’s always been that way.

“Players are punished for playing dual sports where they should be celebrated that they’re actually capable to play both codes. Hopefully we can maybe find a resolve to this, but at the minute, I’m just not overly confident.”

As part of a dual club, Erne Gaels are well used to clashes at this stage, as the hurlers and the footballers use the same pool of players.

“When you’re in a dual club you have a clash and it’s always been that way with us,” Dolan described.

“You have a clash of training nights; everybody wants this pool of players. We’re delighted that we have a core group of talented dual players there. But we can’t have them out every night of the week. So sometimes we’re restricted down to maybe one night a week to try and get one good session with everyone together. It’s quite difficult, at the minute.

“But I suppose when you have a football team going well and a hurling team going out and winning their county championship, you have to allow for these things.”