McKenna Cup clash between Cavan and Fermanagh ruled null and void

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Damien Donohoe

Fermanagh’s two-point win over Cavan in Round 2 of the Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup has been ruled null and void after both counties were found to have breached competition regulations.

Ulster Council confirmed that the teams fielded players ineligible due to their involvement in the Sigerson Cup, which was being played at the same time.

Fermanagh’s starting team included Fionan and Cian O’Brien, both of whom were Sigerson-locked under competition regulations even though neither player featured for UUJ on Tuesday night against DCU.

Despite Fermanagh winning the game by two points on the night, their use of the O’Brien brothers rendered the result invalid.

Cavan’s breach occurred at the start of the second half when manager Dermot McCabe introduced Darragh Lovett from the bench. Lovett, a late replacement for Dara McVeety to the listed panel, is returning from injury and had played for TU Dublin in their Sigerson Cup victory over Dundalk IT the previous evening and was therefore also competition-tied.

Lovett scored two late points as a second half sub for TU Dublin before playing 30 minutes against Fermanagh in Tempo on Wednesday night. His introduction put Cavan in breach of the same eligibility rules.

It is understood that Ulster Council were alerted to the issue by the Higher Education GAA authorities, leading to the ruling that the fixture would be declared null and void rather than awarded to either side.

Head of operations Martin Cahill told the Anglo-Celt: “The player was played in error, we acknowledge the mistake, and apologised to the Ulster council.”

The decision has little practical impact on Cavan, who had already been eliminated from the competition following defeats to Monaghan and Fermanagh.

Even if the game had been awarded to Cavan, progression to the semi-finals would still have required Fermanagh to beat Monaghan and create a ranking headache for the organisers as all three sides would have ended up on the same points with score difference not able to be used to separate the sides.

“The matter is now closed,” Cahill concluded, “all our focus is now on the Cork game at the end of the month.”