Leixlip chairman reacts to Naas GAA's ‘demeaning’ county final concession

Naas have conceded this year’s UMPC Intermediate Hurling Championship final to Leixlip citing their inability to fulfil the fixture to the CCC.

Leixlip chairman Tom Melville has said that players and members have reached out and are very disappointed with the respect Naas GAA is giving to both the IHC and the players of both teams.

The chairman added that you can’t underestimate the joy of a county final for a club, from the U7s and U8s running on the field afterwards to the lifelong supporters who have only seen a few county finals in their lifetime. Melville highlighted that “not all adult clubs have five or six teams in finals every year.”

He continued, “It is very disappointing. It was last weekend when it was postponed originally out of Conleth’s and we tried to get it played and agreed to play it on any pitch at any stage over the weekend. We weren’t pressed about playing in Conleth’s and we were happy to play at 6pm on Saturday, but I don’t know if another pitch was looked at or not.”

“It was re-fixed for this coming Sunday because the pitch was unplayable but nobody looked to see where/when other fixtures were on. The first thing to look at is whether there is another day that it can be played, it sounded like the best time to play was last weekend but there should be an effort made to find a pitch. We said we would play in Clane or anywhere really.”

Just four days after their SHC final success, Naas have advised the CCC of the concession. The club’s AIB Leinster Club Senior Hurling Championship opening round against Kilcormac-Killoughey (Offaly) is set for next Sunday, November 8. A small group of Naas players are also involved with the Eadestown footballers who will play on Friday, October 30 in the SFC ‘A’ final against Clane.

“One, you want to play a county and two, you want to play a county final before you go into Leinster,” Melville explained. “That is the normal route, you win it and you move on, in this case we didn’t have to win it but that’s beside the point really. The players train all year to be in the county final. The fans, we had buntings up, we are a youngish team all set to go down and did all the standard stuff to try and promote hurling in the club.

“Some of the stuff on social media over the last few days was about it being at 11 o’clock and, while it wasn’t our preferred time, we were okay with that because we wanted to play the match. We wanted to have a county final and have a reason for supporters to come out for the lads representing their club in a county final.”

Leixlip have been crowned champions in a way they will not have dreamt about in winter training, by email, with their team initially denied their day in the county grounds and now a chance to add to their promotion to the SHC with glory on the field.

“My own sons (Darragh and Cathal) play and they are disappointed but thankfully we have the Leinster championship to look forward to,” Melville explained. “That is our focus now and the lads are training tonight so it is full steam ahead for that but it’s very disappointing because they wanted their day in the county final and all goes with it, celebrations afterwards, win or lose. We were very disappointed over last weekend, having prepared for it for weeks.”

“We were very disappointed over last weekend, having prepared for it for weeks. It's disappointing for lads who give so much commitment too, everyone, whether you are playing for senior, intermediate or junior teams, put in the same efforts. The training, challenge games all focused towards the championship. It’s demeaning that our championship is supposedly not as important as other championships. That it can just be cancelled and have you heard of any other county finals being cancelled in the country?”

Leixlip will face Westmeath IHC title winners Turin in the first round of the AIB Leinster Club Junior Hurling Championship on Saturday, November 7, an away venue is yet to be confirmed.

Melville concluded, “Our player profile is very young. We have been lucky over the last few years to bring a lot of lads through from minor but you would worry that this impacts them. We would have five or six dual players, we are a dual club, we promote dual players but that is at risk if they see that hurling isn’t getting equal recognition.”