Na Fianna case adjourned until Thursday

The GAA club at the centre of a High Court bid to be reinstated into the Dublin club football championship, have had their hearing…

The GAA club at the centre of a High Court bid to be reinstated into the Dublin club football championship, have had their hearing adjourned until Thursday.

On Friday evening, the Leinster Council upheld a decision made by the Dublin County Board Games Administration Committee that the Na Fianna club had broken the substitution rule in their quarter-final win over Raheny nine days ago.

Na Fianna were adjudged to have used a sixth player as a blood replacement in addition to the five permitted substitutions.

Under GAA rules, teams are limited to a maximum of 20 players and therefore the game was awarded to Raheny.

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But Na Fianna believe there is a loophole in the rule book that could allow them re-enter the championship. They will return to the High Court on Thursday to fight their case.

On Friday the club successfully sought and received a High Court injunction to have last Saturday's semi-final between UCD and Raheny postponed.

But Dublin will now struggle to put forward a representative for the Leinster club quarter-final as a result of the court action, devaluing the competition and continuing to embarrass everyone involved.

That game is due for November 17th but time is running out as only one Dublin championship semi-final has been played. It appears highly unlikely a Dublin club will contest the Leinster championship if the outstanding fixture is not played this weekend.

Na Fianna, the reigning Dublin champions for the past three years, made a similar error in last year's Leinster club championship match against Kildare outfit Sarsfields. Sarsfields agreed to a replay which Na Fianna won.