Jason Gibson hits back at ‘armchair experts’ over League Cup final postponement

Jason Gibson says that the late postponement of Saturday’s Donegal News USL League Cup final was ‘unfortunate’.

The Bonagee United manager, who is also the registrar of the Ulster Senior League, admitted that his own players were disappointed with the decision to call off the final against Cockhill Celtic.

“My players were ready to play the game,” Gibson told Donegal Live.

“Our lads were unhappy that the game couldn’t go ahead, through no fault of their own.

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“There are attacks on me and my position within the USL and I can deal with that. But there have been accusations that we were almost afraid to play the game. Our boys wanted to play the game. They were ready to go and I probably got as much criticism from my own players, who just wanted to play a match.”

Bonagee were due to face Cockhill at The Diamond Park but on Saturday morning the game was postponed. A statement from the USL said the decision was taken ‘pending an investigation into the eligibility of a player who featured in the competition’.

“It was a difficult position to be in,” Gibson said. “There are keyboard warriors and armchair experts out there who don’t actually know the ins and outs of things. Stuff has been cast towards my players, but they were probably the last group to find out and were very disappointed.

“As it sits at the moment (Tuesday evening), Cockhill are still in the League Cup, pending a decision and we’ll adhere to whatever decision the executive decides.”

Due to his own involvement in club and executive, Gibson - and others within the committee with an affiliation to Bonagee or Cockhill - had to withdraw from any deliberations at committee level.