Why the Longford Senior Football Championship could be plunged into chaos

News of an objection to a recent result is likely to hold up the entire competition

By: irishmirror.ie

Sep 04 2024
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Why the Longford Senior Footba

It wouldn’t be GAA Club Championship season without a controversy that looks set to rumble on.

With local competitions across the country at crunch time - and entire seasons on the line - the stakes are at their highest for hundreds of sides throughout Ireland.

This heightens tensions and every inch is scrapped for with clubs chasing County Championships and knock out places, while also desperate to avoid relegation play-offs.

Controversies that might be ignored in the League and pursued with absolute vigour.

Objections, hearings, appeals and counter-appeals are the name of the game, with local, provincial and even national bodies called on at times to adjudicate.

You’ll hear a fair bit about the CCC (Competitions Control Committee), Hearings and Appeals Committees, and the club championship season rarely goes by without the highest body - the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) - being called into action.

This year’s first major case is the Longford Senior Football Championship, which has been plunged into chaos after an objection was launched into the result of a recent crunch tie.

Former Leinster champions St Columba’s, Mullinalaghta, who shocked Kilmacud Crokes in the 2018 provincial decider, are the side which has lodged the complaint.

It centres on the final score of their drawn Longford SFC group game against Carrickedmond last weekend.

Mullinalaghta believe Carrickedmond were awarded an extra point in error in the first half.

Local media notes from the game in Ballymahon support their case, while TV evidence is certain to come into play.

The game was on ‘Clubber TV’ - a growing platform that streams online GAA games from across the country.

Longford chiefs are likely to access video footage of the game, as well as the match report of referee, David Tiernan as they process the case.

The game officially finished in a 2-12 apiece draw, with Carrickedmond coming from 10 points behind at one stage to claim a result that meant Abbeylara topped the six team group.

The result also meant that Dromard were knocked out of the competition and sent into a relegation play-off.

But a Mullinalaghta win would have put an entirely different complexion on the group. This would have seen them finish first and have a different quarter-final opponent, as well as saving Dromard and dropping Carrickedmond into a relegation play-off.

Dromard have no recourse to appeal the result of the Mullinalaghta/Carrickedmond tie, but they could yet be handed a lifeline if Mullinalaghta are successful.

Carrickedmond are likely to insist they played the game based on the scoreline - and in the knowledge that a draw would be enough to see them through.

GAA rules say an objection can be upheld if, “A score allowed by the referee was not recorded by the referee or that a score was incorrectly recorded by the referee, thereby affecting the result of the game.”

In this scenario the game may be awarded to Mullinalaghta, but a Carrickedmond counter-appeal would be highly likely in a scenario that could run over a number of weeks and see the Longford Championship put on hold.

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