Weekend proves December & January games a farce

LAST weekend was a farce.

- BY GARRY DOYLE

Not a minor glitch, not a scheduling irritation - a farce.A charade dressed up in the pretence of competition, decided not by skill, endeavour, or the fickle drama of sport, but by coin tosses and administrative expediency.

In Longford on Saturday, players learned ten minutes before kickoff that there would be no game at all in the O'Byrne Cup.

Not postponed, not rescheduled, just evaporated, leaving supporters wondering why they bothered getting out of bed.

Then the following day in hurling’s Walsh Cup, West-meath’s men found out one minute before throw-in that their clash with Kilkenny was off - because the Cats refused to step onto the artificial turf of Lakepoint Park.

Result? A victory for West-meath. Officially.

Their first ever competitive win over Kilkenny.

Historic! Except it isn't.

Kilkenny say they would have played it on a grass pitch, or at the original venue, seven miles away at The Downs.

They just wouldn't play on an admittedly “bare 3G surface. And for that, Westmeath get a win they never truly earned.

Fans were left aghast. Grown adults staring at their phones, mouths open, thinking: Is this really what weve come to?