Sporting Ennistymon relegated from Premier Division

A meeting of the Clare District Soccer League (CDSL) on Tuesday evening decided that Kilrush Rangers have secured promotion to the Premier Division.

This means that Sporting Ennistymon have suffered relegation from the top flight of Clare soccer.

The sides were due to meet in a Promotion/Relegation Play Off last Sunday morning. However, Sporting Ennistymon refused to play the game as they protested against the Clare District Soccer League (CDSL) rescheduling the game to last Sunday.

Sporting Ennistymon said on May 29 they were informed by the CDSL Fixtures Secretary, Brendan Browne, that the play-off match would be held on June 12 but claimed there was interference among the CDSL committee that saw the game pushed back a week.

In a lengthy statement published on their social media channels last Sunday, the club argued that they were told at the end of May the game would be taking place on June 12 and not June 5.

“On Sunday the 29th of May, we were informed by the fixtures secretary of the CDSL that the playoff match was being put out to June 12th. The club member relayed that information to the players. However, when the new fixture list came out Tuesday afternoon, the fixture was down for June 5th.

“After contacting the fixtures secretary, he revealed that he had the fixture set for the 12th of June but that someone on the committee told him to move the match back to Sunday the 5th.”

They argued that their players had purchased tickets to the Munster Senior Hurling Championship Final and that no sporting action should have taken place on the day of the hurling decider.

“Sporting’s management and players purchased Munster Hurling Final tickets and made travel arrangements and were looking forward to travelling to Thurles to cheer on the Banner. The fact that the fixture date had been re-amended meant that players would be out of pocket.

“The fixture should not have gone ahead today as it is a massive day in the sporting calendar. If the fixtures secretary had set the match for June 12th, no committee member should have interfered and told the fixtures secretary to move the date.

Sporting Ennistymon can appeal this decision to the Munster Football Association (MFA). It is expected that they will exercise this right.