McEntee: Dromintee embarrassed themselves and disgraced the county

Crossmaglen co-manager John McEntee has branded Dromintee’s decision to field a severely depleted team including three players in casual clothing as an “absolute disgrace”.

McEntee: Dromintee embarrassed themselves and disgraced the county

By Peter O’Dwyer

Crossmaglen co-manager John McEntee has branded Dromintee’s decision to field a severely depleted team including three players in casual clothing as an “absolute disgrace”.

The Crossmaglen boss was left unhappy when Dromintee fielded a side shorn of a number of regular starters who opted to attend a wedding rather than to contest the Armagh senior club championship game.

Consequently, 41-time provincial champions Crossmaglen won what was effectively an extremely bizarre training exercise on a scoreline of 1-8 to 0-0.

Had Dromintee not fielded a team they would’ve faced sanctions from the Armagh county board, including the possibility of a six-month ban for some of their teams.

McEntee, however, had little sympathy for his side’s opponents, telling Armagh reporter Manus Loughran that Dromintee had embarrassed themselves by their decision to fulfil the fixture as they did.

“The players opted to go to a wedding, or at least a group of players did and collectively they decided not to bother turning up for the match. So Dromintee, had the not fielded [a team], they’re whole club would be suspended for six months.

“Rather than having the juvenile teams thrown out of the championship – or suspended from football for six months – their committee members and a collection of guys in and around Dromintee decided to come out and effectively humiliate themselves in front of an audience which is actually an absolute disgrace,” McEntee told Loughran during the game.

“They’re great fellas that they can come out and do that for their club but to think that a senior team would embarrass them and their community and completely disrespect us and the county football structure as a whole is incredible.”

Asked how his club would have dealt with the situation had they found themselves in a similar situation, McEntee claimed his side would have turned up to play the game.

“Fairly simple, you’d have turned up and played the match,” he said. “You probably would’ve used it as a bit of motivation if you thought there was an injustice done, which I’m not sure there is but you certainly wouldn’t disgrace your club the way those boys have done.”

2003 All-Ireland winner and Dromintee clubman Aidan O’Rourke dismissed McEntee’s comments, however, and claimed that the Crossmaglen manager needed to “acquaint himself with the facts”.

O’Rourke, in a series, of tweets also explained his side’s take on the situation and, in doing so, laid the blame squarely at the door of the Armagh county board.

To listen to the interview in full, visit Manus Loughran’s twitter page.

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