The entire soccer community of Waterford was rocked to the core last week when Carrick United refused to play St Saviour’s in the final of the Ardagh Premier Cup final.
The multi-honoured Carrick, who recently were crowned league champions for the 8th time in eleven seasons, claimed that they could not field a team for the decider which was due to be played in Ozier Park on Sunday last.
The original fixture was scheduled for Friday last, May 21st, but that date was changed to avoid a clash with the Waterford United versus Cork City game at the RSC as there would be very little press coverage of the final, and also the attendance would be affected by the clash of games.
When Carrick United defeated Hibernians the previous Sunday (May 16th) in the semi-final they made it known that they would have difficulty fulfilling the fixture due to family religious ceremonies in the Carrick area on the Saturday.
It later emerged that one of their players had booked his stag night away and a number of the first-team players were also travelling to the event. Speaking on WLRfm on Saturday last, members of both St Saviour’s and Carrick United aired their views on a situation in which there can be no winners.
John Nolan, the long-serving Carrick United clubman, felt that his club did not receive sufficient notice of the new date, and as a result they could not possibly field a team, as their lower division players were cup-tied, having played in their various competitions earlier in the season.
See The Munster Express newspaper for full story.
