THE OFFALY County Board insist they will be “dealing internally” with the scathing complaints of senior hurling manager Joe Dooley over access to O’Connor Park in Tullamore for training purposes – with a county board meeting last night set to address the issue for the first time.
Dooley’s grievances evidently came to a head last Saturday when he was forced to cancel a training session planned for 1pm at the grounds, “as a result of the way we were received, from gates being locked all over the place, to players and mentors being asked to leave the field, to not being allowed even walk across the field, to the threat of cars being removed from outside the ground”.
These and other complaints were laid out in a letter sent to county secretary Martin Boland on Monday, and also to every club in Offaly, and signed by Joe Dooley, along with Brendan Kelly (selector), Tony Murphy (team secretary), Francis Forde (coach), Shane Dooley (captain), Joe Bergin (vice-captain), Brian Carroll (last year’s captain) and Pat McLoughney (selector).
Dooley added that limited access to O’Connor Park “has been an ongoing issue all year” and such public dismay was “the last thing anyone wanted or needed” – and yet “it was collectively felt that we were left with no other choice . . . every reason seems to be used to keep us out of the pitch or off the pitch during training sessions.”
Former two-time All-Ireland winner with Offaly, Michael Duignan, last night said he was “extremely angry” at the situation, given “Joe Dooley is the most honourable, decent man you could come across” and blamed the problem on the financial pressures on the Offaly county board in trying to clear €2 million in debt on the recent €5 million redevelopment of the grounds.
“Once the Galway-Dublin match there on Saturday is over, and once Offaly are out of the championship, there’ll be seven or eight games played there every week, to get as much revenue as possible in there. And this saddens me.
“It’s a fantastic development, but this is not a little spat, and I have sympathies for the finance committee, and the GAA should help clear these debts.”
Meanwhile Galway will be without both Ger Farragher and Iarla Tannian when they play their first Leinster hurling championship match against Dublin – their semi-final set for Tullamore on Saturday evening. The counties haven’t yet clashed in the championship since Galway entered the province three seasons ago.
Farragher is still carrying the knee injury sustained when playing for his club Castlegar three weeks ago, while Tannian broke his thumb and also fractured ligaments while featuring for Ardrahan five weeks ago. They’re both significant losses for manager John McIntyre, although Joe Canning will start, having come off the bench against Westmeath, and last year’s captain Shane Kavanagh and Tony Óg Regan are also ready to return, with McIntyre due to name his team after training this evening.
Opponents Dublin will welcome back defender Tomás Brady, who looks set to mark Canning, with Simon Lambert also available for selection – but the game has come too soon for Joey Boland, who hasn’t yet recovered from the shoulder injury sustained in Dublin’s league final win over Kilkenny. Brady sustained a medial knee ligament injury in training the week after Dublin’s win, and missed the quarter-final win over Offaly, while Lambert picked up a shoulder injury in the course of that game, after being introduced as a substitute.
Clare will be without defender back Dómhnaill O’Donovan for their Munster hurling semi-final against Tipperary, as he’s already been ruled out for the season after rupturing a disc in his back, and midfielder Liam Markham is also a serious doubt due to a broken finger. Defender Brendan Bugler and midfielder Nicky O’Connell have recovered from recent injuries, while the only two players definitely ruled out for Tipperary are Brendan Maher (fractured fibula) and Séamus Hennessy (knee cartilage damage).
