Tipperary club tell their side of the ‘walkover’ story

Carrick Swans have received plenty of bad press recently.

The South Tipperary club didn't fulfil their first round game of the Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship against Thurles Sarsfields back in April. That meant that the score difference in Group Three of the Tipperary SHC was null and void from that point onwards, and as luck would have it, it would have consequences down the line. That's because Drom and Inch defeated Thurles in the final round group game last Sunday, forcing those two teams along with Upperchurch/Drombane into a three way play-off - which begins next Tuesday evening when Drom take on the Church in Templetuohy. The club were issued with a €1000 fine, subsequently reduced to €600 on appeal, but they maintain that they didn't give a walkover to Tipperary's most successful team. They provided a statement to SportsJOE on the back of the recent events.

"It's important from our point of view that we stress that we did not give a walkover at any time," it read. "We contacted both the C.C.C.C. and Thurles Sarsfields on April 13th seeking a postponement and this was not or could not be agreed to to by either party. "Regrettably the stance then taken by the C.C.C.C. was to hit us with a fine of €1000 (reduced to €600 on appeal) and award the game to Thurles Sarsfields. "The reason we were put in this unfortunate situation was because we had to play a south championship match on a Wednesday and a county championship match on the following Saturday as we were informed the divisional championships had to be completed asap. "We subsequently suffered severe injuries to some key players on the Wednesday fixture and that combined with having others unavailable on the Saturday meant we could not fulfill the county championship fixture. "Maybe a decision should have been made by the fixtures makers in advance regarding which game took precedence, the county championship or the divisional championship? "Hindsight of course is everything, but the south senior hurling final was played on July 22nd, and while we are now in September both the Mid and North finals have yet to be played, so was there a need to for us to be forced to try and play arguably the two most important fixtures of our season in 3 days??? "If the C.C.C.C. or Thurles Sarsfields  had been able to agree to the request of a postponement and not given the 'walkover' to Thurles Sarsfields there would be no playoff situation required, as be under no illusions we wanted to play Thurles Sarsfields. "We are a very proud club and are doing our best to keep hurling alive against other sports. "We have since contacted the club's involved in the group and county fixtures to offer to play Sarsfields to avoid playoffs but that couldn't be agreed to, so there is nothing more we could do except record our regret at the way it has all turned out. "We will not be issuing any other statement other than to wish the clubs involved in the playoff the best of luck."