Meath hurling faces crisis

Meath hurling is suddenly facing an uncertain future after manager Michael Duignan yesterday withdrew his services along with his three co-selectors.

The executive of the Meath County Board last night held an emergency meeting to discuss the matter but Duignan is adamant that he could no longer continue in the position after the board failed to fulfil his request to postpone this weekend's round of club matches.

Major doubts now surround Meath's NHL meeting with Antrim at Casement Park this Sunday, the game which will have a major bearing on which of the two counties may gain promotion. The county's under-21 manager also announced his intention to withdraw from his position, and doubts now also surround the future of the Meath hurling sponsorship.

The crisis started when Duignan, the former Offaly All Star hurler, requested the county board, through the secretary last Sunday, to call off club matches for this weekend involving his county players, many of whom play both codes. And following a fixture meeting on Monday night he was given an assurance that with the under-21 footballers playing last Tuesday night then the matches would be put back to next Tuesday week. Even though the under-21s were defeated the situation that he was promised didn't materialise and the matches were fixed to go ahead.

Duignan let his displeasure be known to the county board on Wednesday night, and yesterday afternoon had further discussions with the chairman and the secretary. But there was no budge.

Speaking last night Duignan explained the main reasons behind his decision. "I know there will always be conflicts like this," he said, "and I played hurling and football for my club myself for many years. But in this instance I was just looking for a one-off situation. We're working off a panel of 21 or 22 players, and within that we're carrying a few injuries. So I just felt that with the importance of the match on Sunday, it wasn't too much to ask.

"Even if the games were re-fixed for next Tuesday week that's still five days before we're due to play in the championship (against Carlow) but I agreed to that. Last weekend matches went ahead on Friday and Saturday, and there was no problem with that. And it was the same all of last year. But this was a once-off."

Without any manager or selectors, it now appears likely that Meath will not fulfil Sunday's league fixture. If the crisis isn't sorted out soon doubts might also surround Meath's opening championship match against Carlow on May 4th. Last summer's championship win over Laois proved one of the county's few hurling high points. Duignan, however, did regret that the players were caught up in the crisis, and also his three selectors Paddy Kelly, John Hunt and Eddie Priest.

Meanwhile, the Gaelic Players Association welcomed the outcome of Saturday's annual congress, where the issue of club and county suspensions was addressed, and also hinted at a potentially progressive era for relations with Croke Park.

GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell said that he "fully believed that the new President's (Sean Kelly) intentions with regard to players are sincere, and although the GPA does not share his enthusiasm for the establishment of a players body controlled by Croke Park, looked forward to continued progressive discussion on all matters relating to player welfare".