Downpatrick to fight championship forfeiture

RGU Mourne has said that the club feels “completely let down” by the decision to remove the side from this year’s Down Senior Championship – and he has confirmed that they will do anything they can to overturn the decision.

On Sunday, under instruction of public health officials, the club informed the county board that they remained unable to field, and therefore their round 2B fixture was awarded to Carryduff with Downpatrick demoted to a relegation play-off with Darragh Cross instead.

That followed three postponements of the fixture with two of those coming after requests from either Carryduff or the Down CCC.

The fixture was postponed on Monday, August 24 after a death in Carryduff and, likewise, the August 26 refixture after their opponents had put a request in writing to the county board.

The match was scheduled for a third time for Friday, August 28 but Downpatrick then had a second member of their senior panel test positive for Covid-19 after an initial positive test for another player earlier in the week – although both players had minimal participation in training due to injury.

After discussions with health officials, the situation was deemed a cluster and Downpatrick were advised that their players should isolate and be tested. This has been completed with 100 percent negative results returned.

Regulations this year give teams 72 hours to fulfil a refixture, but Downpatrick were unable to do so as they were following Public Health Agency guidance. After confirming they would be unable to field, they were informed on Sunday that Carryduff would be progressing to the next round.

“That rule is in place but what I would say is that it was put there without this situation in mind and this has been acknowledged by a senior Down official in a discussion with myself and our chairperson Edel Curran yesterday,” said Quinn.

“We agreed to the postponement twice because it was the right thing to do, so there is a lot of anger there about how this has turned out.

“You have all the emotions, anger, disappointment, disgust. We just feel completely let down.

“At the end of the day, health has to take precedence in situations like that and we had hoped that would be taken into account.

“I’ve been involved with RGU for a lifetime and on county committees and like a lot of people I’m just sitting here dejected and asking ‘what’s the point?’

“The players are absolutely gutted. They were set for a championship game and now they are in a relegation play-off but a bigger concern is that this decision will maybe drive others not to reveal positive results and the health consequences thereafter.”

If Downpatrick appeal the decision and are successful, there could be serious ramifications for the tournament as Carryduff have already played their next round fixture against Longstone, winning on Tuesday night.

Speaking in Tuesday’s Irish News, Down chairman Jack Devaney commented:

“It would be different if it was an arbitrary decision, but it’s not – it’s something we had all agreed with before we headed into the championship, so everyone knew that was the story with it.

“As it stands, they won’t be able to fulfil the fixture. That’s the question we asked, whether they would be able to fulfil the fixture.

“Our understanding was that they wouldn’t be able to fulfil the fixture any time this week, that it would be into next week before that could happen.

“It’s unfortunate on Downpatrick, it’s not their fault, it’s not anybody’s fault really. As it stands, they wouldn’t be out of self-isolation until sometime next week.”

By Niall McCoy

n.mccoy@gaeliclife.com