GAA News

Westmeath forward Denis Glennon has claimed that he and two other players were given permission to play for Tyrrellspass on Tuesday night.

The participation of Westmeath players Glennon, Darren Quinn and Ger Egan in a club game between Tyrrellspass and Mullingar Shamrocks on Tuesday night was the source of much controversy in the Lake County, coming as it did only five days before an ominous looking qualifier clash with Kerry this weekend.

While the Westmeath team were training in Cusack Park in Mullingar on Tuesday night, the three Tyrrellspass players were togging out against Mullingar Shamrocks in Springfield, which is located a short distance from the county grounds.

If that sounded bad enough, it got worse when it was revealed that two Mullingar Shamrocks players involved in the county set-up, David Gavin and Denis Coroon, also left training to go the game when they heard about the involvement of the Tyrrellspass players, but were too late arriving and played no part.

Manager Pat Flanagan was not in attendance at training on Tuesday night because he was tending to his son Wayne, who was one of the nine unfortunate people stabbed at the Swedish House Mafia concert in the Phoenix Park last weekend, but it had been claimed that no player had been given permission to play in the club game by the Westmeath management.

That claim has been disputed by Glennon, one of Westmeath’s standout forwards in recent years, who is adamant that the Tyrrellspass contingent had been given permission to play on account of their precarious position in Division One of the league.

"We got permission to play from Pat," Glennon revealed in The Irish Daily Star.

"Our team has the most county players and it's only a small village so it was struggling without us.

"The team were winning no games and we couldn't stand by and let the team be relegated from Division 1."

It had been suggested that Glennon and the other two county players involved for Tyrrellspass could face disciplinary action and could be dropped for the Kerry game this weekend, but Glennon’s comments would appear to at least provide some clarification on the matter.

It still seems strange that county players would be given permission to play a club game so soon before a crucial inter-county fixture, but a county team would be nothing without the clubs who provide the players and it appears as if special allowances may have been made in this case.

We’ll get a clearer idea of whether any action will have been taken when the Westmeath team takes to the field against Kerry in Mullingar tomorrow, but Lord knows they could have done without the distraction ahead of the meeting with the Gaelic Football aristocrats.