Cork football boss Ronan McCarthy has blasted Longford for not fulfilling last weekend’s Allianz League fixture between the counties.
McCarthy said the decision “brought the League into disrepute”, was “an appalling way to finish the competition” and added that “I’d almost call it anti-sport”.
Cork had won promotion from Division Three regardless of the outcome of the game that was due to take place at Pearse Park, though Derry’s hopes of promotion were wiped out once Longford decided to concede the points after their manager Padraic Davis said the game was a “dead rubber”.
McCarthy said: “I'd said after the Louth match that we were going to take the game seriously, we were going to try and respect the competition and put out a strong team.
“It's unfortunate that Longford didn't on their end, I suppose, complete the competition. We feel hard done by from the point of view that we wanted the game but certainly I would think if I was in Derry's shoes I'd be rather annoyed.
“Certainly the way results went there was a possibility that Derry could have been promoted.
“So I'd have been disappointed that the game didn't go ahead, I'd have been disappointed with the way it was called off.
“I don't see how Longford, Padraic Davis had the right to unilaterally decide they weren't going to fulfil the fixture but it's done now and we move on.”
When it was put to McCarthy that the League had been brought into disrepute, he replied: “I think Longford's decision brought the league into disrepute, yeah.
“I think that you finish the competition. As I say, we were the team that were doing the travelling, I'm not aware of any Covid issues that they had.
“As I understand it they just didn't want to play the game. I think it's an appalling way to finish the competition, that had ramifications for other teams.”
McCarthy added that he fears for the precedent that Longford’s course of action could set.
“I think it’s massively dangerous, yeah, I really do.
“You finish the competition out and it finishes at the end and we all end up at various times playing games that in essence they’re dead rubbers but this actually wasn’t and the fact that Louth beat Down and the fact that Derry beat Offaly meant that Longford would have had a big impact there on Derry’s promotion chances.
“So I think it was an appalling decision that was made for no other reason than they just didn’t want to play the game.”
There is no action that can be taken against Longford at this stage though McCarthy said that “acting accordingly was to make them play the game last week”, before heaping praise on Fermanagh, who saw out their Division Two League campaign despite their squad being ravaged by Covid-19 cases.
He added: “Fermanagh should be applauded and lauded for the efforts that they made in both their fixtures in very difficult circumstances.
“At the end of the day, it’s about the integrity of the competition, the integrity of sport. The decision (by Longford), I’d almost call it anti-sport really but it’s done now.”
