CCCC chair defends venue choice after McGuinness criticism

CCCC chairman Brian Carroll has defended the decision to play last Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC Round 3 match between Donegal and Mayo at King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park.

Carroll, who is also chair of Roscommon GAA, was reacting to Donegal manager Jim McGuinness’ criticism of the choice of venue for the ‘neutral’ fixture which the back-to-back Ulster champions edged on a 0-19 to 1-15 scoreline to eliminate the Westerners from the Sam Maguire Cup race.

“We think it was very unfair to bring us here,” McGuinness complained.

“It was the equivalent of bringing Mayo to Omagh and we also put in an email to the CCCC to say we couldn't get a hotel in the area so we had to stay in Athlone. We had to go beyond the venue to come to play in the venue.

“So it was the equivalent of Mayo going to play us in Omagh and staying in Derry and I don't believe that would happen. I think that would only happen because it's us.

"Everybody else had a fair shake this weekend. You're 38 minutes from Mayo's training ground. We're three-and-a-half hours from Inishowen. It's not fair."

However, Carroll claimed there was no suitable alternative to Hyde Park for the game.

"When we sit down to put these fixtures together, there are a lot of situations that have to be taken into consideration," he said after yesterday morning’s All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final and Tailteann Cup semi-final draws.

"In the case of Donegal and Mayo, the obvious venue for us was Sligo. Unfortunately, Sligo wasn't available because the pitch is being repaired, so the ground wasn't available.

"Breffni Park wasn't available - Cavan were playing at the same time. Clones wasn't available because Monaghan were playing two hours earlier in the day and Omagh wasn’t available because Tyrone were playing at the same time.

"So our feeling was that the most logical venue [remaining] for both of these counties was King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park."