Tyrone All County Leagues remain on hold

By Niall Gartland

A POTENTIAL fixtures crisis was averted at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Tyrone County Committee following a week of uncertainty – but frustration remains about the lack of a concrete start date for this year’s All County Leagues.

The three top tiers have been placed firmly on hold due to the ongoing Tyrone U-20 campaign, and if the Red Hands overcome the Leinster Champions Louth or Kildare in next Wednesday’s All-Ireland semi-final, it could mean a late-May start date for the All County Leagues at Division One, Two and Three level.

Clubs have indicated an unwillingness to operate without their underage stars, and that explains the hold up, though it is understood that Tyrone stand alone as the only county in Ireland not to have already commenced their senior leagues.

Meanwhile, clubs have endorsed a proposal by the Tyrone Fixtures analyst Conor Sally to bin the new weighted points system at Tuesday night’s monthly meeting of the county committee.

That brought to an end a week of uncertainty instigated by the left-field decision to redo the Division One fixtures following representations from a small number of clubs who argued that there was a lack of competitive balance in the seven starred rounds (i.e. rounds without county players).

A new fixtures list for Division One was subsequently circulated to clubs last Friday night, prompting Fixtures Analyst Conor Sally to produce an eight-page report expressing serious misgivings about the unexpected turn of events.

Among other complaints, Sally said that the fresh batch of fixtures had not “been drafted by the adult fixtures secretary, and were neither approved or even seen by the committee.”

He went on to say that the new fixtures were “not fit for purpose, create severe imbalance and prejudice, and most unfortunately if proceeded with will bring into serious disrepute the Tyrone GAA Division One ACL.”

The Omagh St Enda’s clubman issued three recommendations in his report – returning to the original fixtures list; producing a new, ‘’more balanced’ schedule; or that they depart from the initial agreement of the clubs to issue three points for a win in the non-starred games.

It is understood that the matter was discussed at length on Tuesday evening in a discussion led by County Chairperson Martin Sludden.

In the end up, Sally proposed a return to the traditional format of awarding two points for a win for both starred and non-starred fixtures, while retaining the new Division One schedule otherwise.

The proposal was unanimously backed by club delegates – though concerns remain about the lack of a concrete start date for the bulk of this season’s All County Leagues.