John O'Mahony, manager of All-Ireland champions Galway, was furious at the postponement of his team's league fixture against Donegal, scheduled for Ballybofey. The match - one of 10 to be called off - was postponed because of rain following a pitch inspection yesterday morning.
"The whole thing was a fiasco," he said yesterday evening. "We had been in close touch with Donegal since Thursday and were assured everything was alright.
"We had to stay overnight on Saturday and, although rain started early this morning (Sunday), it wasn't exactly a downpour and the referee said the prospects of its taking place were 'quite good'. Whatever happened after that, we got a call from Noirin Doherty (Donegal county secretary) to say the pitch was unplayable.
"When we enquired about Ballyshannon, which we had been told was a drier pitch, the answer was that because of work on the ground, any switch would have needed to take place no later than Friday morning. I pointed out that this was similar to a situation Donegal themselves had suffered a couple of years back when they had a match in Cork called off at the last minute.
"It was particularly frustrating for us in that Kevin Walsh and Alan Keane, who are guards, had to make special arrangements at work to travel."
O'Mahony said that Walsh's availability for yesterday's match wasn't a definite indication that the veteran centrefielder had decided against retirement from inter-county football.
"Kevin answered a call earlier in the week because we were a bit stuck but he hasn't made up his mind about the long-term future yet. But I suppose it's a good signal."
The GAA's new season failed to get out of the blocks in general as the weather rubbed out all but six of the 16 Allianz National Football League fixtures. Most of these matches will be refixed for the end of the month.
Division One was disproportionately hit with Down-Fermanagh the only top-flight match to take place.
Paraic Duffy, chairman of the Games Administration Committee, admitted frustration at the mayhem caused to the scheduled opening day.
"I was very disappointed," he said. "The whole thing came a bit out of the blue. On Saturday the only match off was Offaly and Dublin. Then it snowed overnight and by quarter past nine the phone calls had started to come in. We were unlucky in that the weather mainly affected the north, northwest and midlands and the bulk of our fixtures were in those areas. We had asked county boards during the week to have an alternative venue ready and that worked to our advantage in Down and Armagh who were able to move to Ballykinlar and Carrickcruppin."
Duffy accepts that the schedule chaos will be viewed as corroborating criticisms of the calendar-year format.
"I'm sure it will but the first point I'd make is that the National League has always played a series of matches at the beginning of February so even if the competition was just resuming, rather than starting, we'd still have lost the best part of a day's fixtures. We knew this season would be a tighter situation but we had set aside the weekend of the 23rd and 24th for any unplayed matches and we'll fit in as many as we can."
There are a number of difficulties that will have to be resolved on that weekend. For a start the National Hurling League gets underway that Sunday, which may cause venue problems.
It is also the final weekend of the Sigerson Cup and although counties will presumably be asked to field without players occupied with their colleges, any refixture of Sligo's home match with Mayo, postponed yesterday, would clash with the Sigerson - this year being hosted by Sligo IT.
In addition Ballinderry's All-Ireland club semi-final against Rathnew is also scheduled for that Sunday.
Weather beaten: Yesterday's postponements
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Divison 1A: Offaly v Dublin, Tyrone v Roscommon,
Westmeath v Cork, Donegal v Galway
Division 1B: Cavan v Kildare, Sligo v Mayo, Clare v Derry
Division 2A: Limerick v Leitrim
Division 2B: Longford v Carlow, Monaghan v Meath
WALSH CUP: SH Semi-final: Offaly v Wexford
KEHOE CUP: SH Semi-final: Westmeath v Kildare
Senior hurling tournament: Waterford v Limerick
