Tipperary football has been left in disarray just three days before the county's most pivotal match of the summer.
The shock resignation of manager Andy Shortall, compounded by the loss through injury of All Star forward Declan Browne, has seriously dented their chances of coming through the tough All-Ireland qualifier against Fermanagh on Saturday afternoon at Semple Stadium.
Shortall's decision to step down, along with his two selectors Mick Byrnes and Jim Cahill, followed several days of negotiation with county board officials, stemming from the fixing of a senior club hurling championship match. The failure to postpone that match, claims Shortall, left him with no option but to resign.
Last night's football training thus went ahead without a manager. Instead county board chairman Donal Shanahan and football chairman Mick Frawley were attempting to put some sort of interim management in place which would meet with the players' approval. The outcome of that task should be known later today.
Efforts to get the Fermanagh match postponed for a week weren't successful, nor were the hopes that Shortall might at least stay on until after the weekend.
Central to the dispute was the fixing of yesterday's club hurling match, a mid-divisional tie involving Loughmore-Castleiney and Thurles Sarsfields. Two of Shortall's panel members were involved with the well-known dual club Loughmore-Castleiney, regular half-forward Michael Webster and a fringe player, Tom King. Last Wednesday he requested the game be postponed so that they would have a free run into Saturday's qualifier, where defeat would mark the end of Tipperary's football summer.
When on Saturday it became clear that game was unlikely to be postponed, Shortall indicated his intentions to resign. The mid-divisional board felt that because the match was a preliminary round any deferral would hold up the entire championship and cause massive complications.
On Monday, Shortall formally tendered his resignation, but the executive of the county board convinced him to defer that decision for 24 hours and tried once more to seek a resolution. When on Tuesday night the GAC of the mid-divisional board voted unanimously that the game go ahead, Shortall's stance was accepted.
"There was still a request made that he stay on until after Saturday," explained Tipperary press officer Ed Donnelly. "But clearly he had taken this stand based on the principle that he wasn't getting the assistance he needed, and there would be no backing down, or no going back.
"Obviously there will always be the inference made that football is treated as the poor relation to hurling in Tipperary. But the football teams do get exactly the same resources as the hurlers. So this does appear to be an isolated issue, and certainly Andy hasn't raised any further issues as part of this. Right now, though, we're missing our All Star forward Declan Browne, who will be out for six weeks after a knee operation, and now we won't have our manager on the sideline either. So the whole thing is quite a mess."
Meanwhile, the Westmeath County Board have confirmed their intention to appeal the 12-week suspension handed down to midfielder Rory O'Connell, the result of his alleged stamping incident in the Leinster football clash with Offaly on May 23rd.
According the county chairman Denis Coyne, the fact that the referee did not see the incident and instead based his report on the information of his linesman should provide sufficient grounds for an appeal to at least bring about a reduction in the suspension.
That would possibly clear the way for O'Connell to play in the Leinster final should Westmeath progress.
