Castlebar Celtic captain attacks Connacht FA over ‘scandalous’ fixture saga

THE captain of Castlebar Celtic’s junior men’s team launched a scathing attack on the Connacht FA after the club won their tenth Connacht Junior Cup title on Sunday. 

Ioseph O’Reilly described the decision to order a replay of his team’s Connacht Cup semi-final win over Salthill Devon as ‘scandalous’ and described the Connacht FA’s handling of the matter as ‘absolutely ridiculous’. 

The Connacht FA had ordered a replay of ‘Celtic’s 1-0 win over Salthill Devon after the Galway club appealed the result on the grounds that the Connacht FA did not appoint neutral officials to referee the game. 

The Connacht FA ordered that the game be replayed, a decision that was successfully appealed to the FAI by Castlebar Celtic. 

The club subsequently contested the Connacht Junior Cup final against Maree Oranmore, whom they defeated 2-1 on Sunday to claim their tenth-ever adult provincial title. 

Speaking before accepting the trophy, O’Reilly said the weeks-long fixtures saga had impacted on ‘players, clubs, relationships, people's mental health’, and resulted in cancelled holidays and delayed J1 Visa trips. 

“Honestly I think I should be up here asking for an apology,” began O’Reilly. 

“I actually don't disagree with your initial appointment of Mayo officials because Damien McGrath is a UEFA official and because of that, impartial. And if there was a shortage available on the day of referees it was probably best to call it off.

“I think the fact that Salthill didn't protest this until they were beaten solidifies this. The decision was made to sanction a club who had done nothing wrong only turn up and win a game of football was scandalous,” he added. 

“Obviously, I think whoever made these decisions should look at their own house before so quickly sanctioning others. You have no comprehension of the effects your decision had on players, clubs relationships, people's mental health. I can only speak from our own experience, and we've had loads of cancelled holidays, cut holidays short, delayed going on J1s, which left all these lads out of pocket. We've a member of our management who cannot be here today, who's been pivotal in getting her today, Declan Flynn, and can't be here today because of everything.”

He then referred to his team-mate, Mark Cunningham, who lost his mother, Anne-Marie, to illness earlier this year, stating: “There's a young man down there who went through hell this year, and he's actually had mental torture of about thinking he's missing a Connacht Cup semi-final or replayed semi-final, that he's trying to win in memory of his mother, and I think it's absolutely ridiculous what went on with that. So to Mark, Jarlath and the guys, I'm just glad we could do it in Anne Marie's memory.

“So I'm sure Maree Oranmore had similar issues and the reason I mention it is it just can't happen in the future,” O’Reilly added. 

“It's knocked on the head now, but these players are the future of the game and they need to be treated with the respect they deserve.”

The 35-year-old defender reiterated his remarks when he spoke to The Mayo News afterwards

“Everyone's been quiet over everything, it needed to be said and not for us, the likes of Oranmore. It affected them as well. They've been sitting there for four weeks and not knowing who they're playing,” he said. 

“We got a week's notice to play a Connacht Cup final, not knowing who we're playing, if we're playing a semi-final. There's all these sayings about 'Respect referees, respect this'. Respect the players. They're young lads and if they're not there there is no future in junior football, so give them a bit of respect and get it back “

Castlebar Celtic manager, Stevie Gavin, also echoed his captain’s criticisms of the Connacht FA. 

“There was a lot of upset. I don’t know how the Connacht FA are going to walk away from this and continue on in their merry way. There needs to be a sanction,” Gavin told The Mayo News. 

“[If] We played an illegal [player], we get slapped, and they made a mistake. So where’s the sanction for them? There’s been a lot of hurt, and a lot of turmoil on a lot of people.”

Gavin also lamented the state of the pitch in Lecarrow and the insufficient number of medals for the winning side’s backroom team. 

“They didn’t even have enough medals for our backroom team today. That’s the reality of it. We gave in our list and they should have enough medals for everyone. The lads will chip together and we’ll get some cut.”