An Rinn and The Nire will play three Waterford SFC games in the space of eight days. Both management teams expressed their frustration with the fixture pile-up on Saturday night.
"I think it's madness to be honest with you," An Rinn selector Daithi O Tuathaigh told WLR Sport after their win over Clashmore/Kinsalebeg. "These are amateur players. We have a match today, a match Wednesday and a match next Saturday. It's just a bit much to ask but we have no choice, we have to play. The Nire are in the exact same situation so there's no advantage or disadvantage to either team. But it is a bit unfair on players."
Nire manager Derek Lyons was also annoyed with the schedule following their victory against Roanmore. "If I was to tell you how I really feel, I don't think you'd be able to put it out on air. We're the only two teams out of the nine in that situation. It's a totally lopsided tournament in that regard. We're at a big disadvantage to call a spade, a spade. What we're told is that's what the delegates agreed to at the end of January when they met with the county board. It's hard to credit that you're rushing a championship that quickly over a couple of weeks. Our four games are going to be played over fifteen days. The other group of four have the luxury of a week off on top of everything else. The message here for me to all of the clubs that are interested in football: send the right delegates to the meeting next January and make sure they know what they're signing up to. We've no one to blame only the clubs ourselves. It's disappointing but we just get on with it."
