Fitzgibbon Cup quarter finals will go ahead

The Fitzgibbon Cup weekend will go ahead in Limerick IT this weekend. This has emerged after an application by Mary Immaculate College to the Disputes Resolution Authority was turned down this morning, a decision, which also means this afternoon’s quarter-final between LIT and IT Carlow will take place as scheduled at 2.00 in Limerick.

Mary Immaculate had sought an interim relief to stop today’s quarter-finals - Waterford IT play DIT later today in Carriganore - from proceeding in order that their application challenging IT Carlow’s place in the competition could be heard.

In the event the DRC (Disputes Resolution Committee) hearing the matter decided to refuse Mary Immaculate’s request and allow today’s matches to proceed.

A full hearing of the application will take place in the future but will have no bearing on this year’s competition, which now goes ahead at the weekend with University of Limerick and Cork IT awaiting today’s winners in Friday’s semi-finals.

Any decision taken in relation to the dispute between Mary Immaculate and IT Carlow will be considered moot and of relevance only to future competitions.

The outcome has come as a relief to the third-level governing body, Comhairle Árdoideachais and in particular to Limerick IT whose preparations for the coming weekend had been thrown into jeopardy with the possibility that the tournament would have to be postponed depending on the DRA’s determination.

The issue at stake concerned IT Carlow’s James Gannon, from Kilkenny, who is enrolled in a graduate business programme. He was declared not be a full-time student and so ineligible by Comhairle Árdoideachais but that finding was overturned by the GAA’s Central Appeals Committee, which is the decision Mary Immaculate decided to challenge.

IT Carlow had eliminated Mary I from the competition.

Eamonn Cregan, All-Ireland medallist with Limerick and manager of Offaly's successful 1994 side, coaches Mary Immaculate and yesterday before DRA decision he called for clarity in the rules and told this newspaper that the rows over player eligibility were not in keeping with the competition's traditions.

“It’s messy. It’s very messy and it’s not in the spirit of Fitzgibbon as far as I can see. I’m not saying that we’re wrong or that Carlow are wrong or anything like that but there are rules there: abide by them; it’s that simple. It’s black or white. It’s either he’s legal or he’s not legal.”