Meath manager takes firm stand

THE "will they, won't they" saga surrounding the Cork footballers and hurlers rumbles on and it is unclear whether the Rebels will travel to Meath to take on Colm Coyle's side at any stage in the National Football League.

Last Saturday's scheduled game between Meath and Cork was postponed because of the ongoing dispute between the Cork players and their Co Committee, but the GAA's stance was ominous by the fact that they didn't fix a new date for the game.

Last week Coyle indicated that if the Cork game was not played by this weekend then Meath would not fulfil the fixture at a later and on Monday afternoon Co Committee PRO Brendan Cummins confirmed that Meath will not face Cork next weekend.

"We agreed last week to a seven-day deferral," said Coyle. "We didn't seek the league points. All we wanted was to play the game but if it's re-fixed, it has to be for next Saturday or Sunday, otherwise we won't be fulfilling the fixture."

A press release issue by Croke Park on Monday afternoon appears to offer some hope for Cork, but it also was a word of warning for the Rebel county that should they fail to fulfil fixtures then they will be thrown out of the league competition.

"In relation to games not played in the national football league at the weekend, the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee have confirmed that Sunday, 9th March was the date originally allocated to accommodate any necessary refixtures from the first round of the football league," read the statement from Croke Park.

"The CCCC have indicated however that where counties reach agreement to play before that date, this can be facilitated by the Committee. The next meeting of the CCCC will take place on Tuesday, 19th February.

"The Association has also sought to clarify the situation in relation to counties not fulfilling league fixtures.

"It has pointed out that the Central Council meeting of Saturday, 26th January agreed that in the event of two games in the hurling or football competitions being awarded in circumstances where a given county cannot field a team, the county shall be automatically disqualified from the current National League in the code in which the two games were not fulfilled"

That statement is a clear warning to Cork about the necessity to fulfil their fixtures, but Coyle was adamant last week that Meath would not accommodate Cork on Sunday, 9th March.

"We won't be playing then. It would mean that we were being asked to play six games in a seven week period whereas everybody else, except ourselves and Cork who have created this problem, will have six games in nine weeks.

"If the game is re-fixed for 9th March, we would be out on three successive weekends and when you factor in a few u-21 and Sigerson Cup games, depending on results of course, it could put enormous pressure on our young players at a time when the GAA has been immersed in a debate over burnout," concluded Coylke.

The row rumbles on and we are no clearer as to when or even if Meath will face Cork in NFL Div 2. Meath next scheduled game in the league is against Roscommon in Hyde Park on Sunday, 17th February.

Meath hurling manager John Andrews and his selectors Paul Donnelly and Colm Lynch have included a few surprises in their panel of 30 players for the NHL Div 2 campaign.

Eoin Brislane, who originally looked like he would miss out because of injury has been included as has Tony Fox who is also on the way back from a serious leg injury.

The panel also contains a number of newcomers including Niall Heffernan and Niall Smyth.

Mick Cole has been left out of the panel as he is on call to travel to Chad as part of an Irish army contingent. However, the Rathmolyon player could be included in the panel for games later in the campaign.

The Meath panel is: Alan Ryan, Andrew Snowe, Barry Slevin, David Crimmins, David Raleigh, Diarmuid Brennan, Enda Fitzgerald, Ger O'Neill, Eoin Brislane, Jimmy Canty, Joey Keena, Kevin Dowd, David Donnelly, Mark Brennan, Martin Horan, Michael Dunne, Michael Burke, Michael Foley, Maurice Keogh, Niall Heffernan, Niall Hackett, Niall Smyth, Nicky Horan, Padraig Geoghegan, Paul Gannon, Peter Durnin, Stephen Clynch, Stephen Donoghue, Stephen Quinn, Tony Fox.