Donegal CCC Secretary: No plans to change 2021 championship structures

The secretary of the Donegal CCC (Competitions Controls Committee) has confirmed that no correspondence has been received from any club who believe the upcoming club championships might need to be restructured.

Ed Byrne said the matter was discussed at Fixture Forums in March and again in May and added ahead of a meeting of the CCC last night, Tuesday, their immediate priority was finding a solution to facilitate the conclusion of the All-County Leagues, amid a mountain of postponements in recent weeks. 

Fixtures were then released last night to enable the conclusion of the All-County Football League. The CCC will then report their findings to the August county committee, which is due to take place tonight, Wednesday.

“Our objective was and is to get players and clubs playing football,” he said yesterday. “The CCC has a number of options to consider in regards to getting the All-County Leagues to a workable conclusion and we also have the championship around the corner.   

“We held Fixtures Forums and back then everyone was happy with the existing championship structures. The idea of a straight knock-out was discussed and it was the least popular of all that was put on the table.

“I understand things may have changed since and this is the responsibility of the clubs, to bring it our attention. If and when they take it to county committee, it will  be discussed and we can bring it forward to the Management Committee by September 12, but we have not heard from one club on the matter as yet.”

The CCC is planning to get the last series of All-County League fixtures played out simultaneously this weekend. Due to coronavirus issues, however, Kilcar and Killybegs have been forced to suspend club activities and both have been pencilled in to play their penultimate Division 1 fixtures against Cloughaneely and Ardara on Friday, prior to the full series on Sunday.

Division 2 Naomh Columba, who are due to play St Mary's Convoy on Saturday, yesterday postponed all activities.

Their statement reads: "To prevent any further spread of covid-19 in the community all football activity both training and games have been postponed until further notice for the safety of the community. We would ask all our all our team players and club members to follow the public health guidelines to help prevent any further spread of covid-19 in our local area. Your cooperation would be appreciated."

It is understood the CCC had a number of options to be considered last night, such as the possibility of awarding walkover victories, rescheduling games or perhaps even extending the league until the weekend of September 4/ 5, which is a week before the championship is due to start.

Byrne said the existing dates for the latter stages of the championship competitions will not be significantly altered even if there is a move to restructure the format.   

“Plans have been made by people around the county and indeed the country around the dates they were given for the championship - whether it be work, college or holidays - and we understand that,” he added.

“So delaying the start of the competitions or having the fixtures less frequent due to the decreased number of games is possible but we would aim not to change those latter dates.   

“I must stress this is speculation as there is no instruction to change the existing format as yet, but should county committee instruct the CCC to look into changes, then we will.”

Donegal’s senior and intermediate champions will represent the county in the Ulster Club championships at home to the respective Derry winners on the weekend of November 20/21 in the preliminary round. Whoever wins the junior title in the county will have their first outing away to the Down representatives the following weekend in the quarter-final.

One non-All-County Football League fixture to be played this Saturday is the outstanding 2020 Intermediate Football Championship relegation play-off between Naomh Colmcille and Naomh Ultan, with the losers joining the junior ranks for the 2021 competition. 

Naomh Conaill, Aodh Ruadh, Buncrana and Carndonagh have won the respective four divisions. Letterkenny Gaels and Gaeil Fhánada are already confirmed in the Division 3 promotion play-off and Na Rossa against Naomh Padraig Muff rubber-stamped their meeting in the Division 4 decider last weekend.   

There are still a number of outstanding issues, with four-way relegation play-offs in the top three divisions, as well as the occupants of a two-way promotion play-off, the teams who finish second and third, in Division 2.