St Colmcille's manager not pleased over unavailability of players

Meath and Leinster IFC club champions St Colmcille’s will take a step into the unknown at the Athletic Grounds, Armagh on Sunday when they tackle Ulster champions Pomeroy Plunketts from Tyrone in the All-Ireland Club IFC semi-final, 2.15pm.

However, St Colmcille's manager Colm Nally’s preparations for the biggest game in the club’s history have been disrupted by the absence of key players like Graham Reilly and Ben Brennan from training sessions this month due to involvement with the Meath senior football team.

Nally, who has taken up a role with the Louth backroom team, wasn’t pleased that Reilly played for Meath in the O’Byrne Cup semi-final against the  Wee County on Sunday at Pairc Tailteann or that Brennan was involved in a challenge game against Donegal on Saturday.

“I asked the lads not to play, it was against my wishes that they played and against the club’s wishes that they played,” he stated.

“Without doubt the lads should have been with the club for the last few weeks. We all know what Graham (Reilly) can do and Ben (Brennan) is our captain, they are going to be pivotal to what we do next weekend.

“They weren’t there for our preparations and I think that is wrong, something could have been done about it, but it wasn’t.

'Ben came on against Donegal on Saturday and got a kick, he has a big lump on the side of his head, I didn’t want him there.

“If you don’t know what Graham can do at this stage, at 27 years of age, I can’t understand the reason for him playing O’Byrne Cup.

“I know Ben is new and trying to make a breakthrough, but we are preparing a team for an All-Ireland semi-final, our preparations weren’t ideal because of that.

“I was even told that I would have them back for training on Sunday morning, but that changed last week, they will have two days to train with us,” he added.

The St Colmcille’s game will form part of a double-header at the Armagh venue with the curtainraiser set for a 12.30pm throw-in featuring the All-Ireland Club
JFC semi-final between Rock St Patrick’s from Tyrone and Dunedin Connolly’s (Scotland).