Kearns blasts Louth decision and questions integrity of O'Byrne Cup

Despite his side's victory over Dublin last night (Wednesday), Offaly football manager Liam Kearns blasted the way this year's O'Byrne Cup competition has been handled.

And Kearns launched a scathing attack on upcoming opponents Louth, whom Offaly will face in their semi-final this Sunday.

On the same night that Offaly defeated Leinster champions Dublin by 0-11 to 0-8 at Parnell Park, Louth were due to travel to Wexford. But having already qualified for the semi-final, Louth opted to give Wexford a walkover.

It was one of three O'Byrne Cup matches which didn't take place this week, with Kildare staying that they couldn't fulfil their fixture against Westmeath. Both Kildare and Westmeath had previously lost to Louth and were of contention for the O'Byrne Cup. And Carlow also withdrew from their match against Laois, citing "Sigerson Cup commitments, injuries and sickness" as the reasons.

Speaking to GAA streaming service Clubber after the encouraging win over Dublin, Kearns hit out at Louth's decision not to fulfil their fixture against Wexford, arguing that it gives them an unfair advantage.

“To be honest with you, I wouldn’t mind dropping out of the competition at this stage,” said Kearns.

“We’ve had two hard games in four days (Offaly defeated Wicklow by 1-9 to 0-7 in Kearns' first match in charge last Saturday). It will be a third game in eight days and our opponents (Louth) have been sitting at home for the whole week.

“They didn’t fulfil their last fixture. That’s the integrity of the competition shot as far as I’m concerned. If you enter a competition, you should have to fulfil your fixtures.

“They’re going to have a week of rest and we have had a very hard game here against Dublin and four days later we’re supposed to play them, and I believe it’s on in Louth as well. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a game too much for us,” continued the experienced Kearns, who has previously managed Limerick, Tipperary and Laois.

“They’re shoehorning games into January. The bottom line here is we have a load of guys playing Sigerson Cup and we have a load of guys trying to play pre-season competitions. What are the pre-season competitions about if you can’t play your best players?

“The integrity of the competition is everybody should be treated the same. If Louth went and played a match tonight in wherever they were supposed to play, then fair enough, we’d both be going out playing in four days’ time having played a hard game in tough conditions. But they didn’t.

"That means now that all the advantages are with Louth. You can dress it up any way you like; that’s the reality of it.

“Any competition you enter, that’s what you want — an equal playing field for all teams. We’ve picked up two or three injuries and now we’re going to force out tired bodies for a third game in eight days — wrong, that’s my opinion,” added the Offaly boss.

In any case Offaly are now preparing to play Louth at Dowdallshill on Sunday (throw-in 2pm). The winners of the Louth v Offaly game will take on Longford in the O'Byrne Cup final.

Longford qualified directly for the decider by topping Group B, with a draw against Colm O'Rourke's Meath in Ashbourne enough to put themidlanders through.

The final is due to be played on Friday, January 20.