‘We did not give a walkover’ says Tulla United secretary

TULLA United are likely to lodge an appeal to the FAI after the Clare area FAI Cup was presented to Rineanna Rovers at Doora last Sunday evening.

Tulla failed to turn up for the final after a decision was taken midweek to change the time of the fixture from Sunday morning to Sunday evening.
Rineanna were in attendance and Clare League secretary Oliver Fitzpatrick presented the trophy to their captain Jason Casey.
Speaking with Tulla secretary Barry Murphy, who is also the team manager, he expressed his club’s disappointment at the change of time. 
“The game was fixed for 11am. On Wednesday night, it seems the Clare League had some meeting and they changed it to 6.30pm on Sunday evening.
“I was not contacted before the decision was made. I heard about the change on the radio next day. They did send me an email at 11.30pm on Wednesday night which I picked up on Thursday,” Mr Murphy said.
Murphy added that he informed the league on Friday that they would not be turning up.
“It was up on the website that the fixture was postponed. On the results last night, it said we gave a walkover. We did not give a walk over,” he stressed before adding that they were likely to lodge an appeal with the FAI.
Clare League chairman Jim Madden explained this week that he attended a fixture at the County Grounds last Thursday evening where he heard about the change of time for the Sunday game and that both clubs had been notified. He had, some days earlier, informed the league officials that he would not be available on Sunday.
“Later on Thursday night, I heard from Tulla that they had a problem with the change and I asked them to put their objections in writing to the secretary. There has been no meeting of the league since then,” Mr Madden explained.
It is expected that the matter will be discussed at a meeting of the Clare League executive next week.