Ringmahon Rangers given five-year ban from FAI Cup for walkover against Bohemians – The Irish Times

Ringmahon Rangers have been banned from the FAI Cup for five years and fined €5,000 by the FAI for handing Bohemians a walkover of their second round cup tie later this month.

In a hefty punishment, the Cork club have also been banned from the FAI Intermediate Cup for the next three years, a competition in which Ringmahon have been runners-up in each of the last two seasons.

Ringmahon were paired with Bohemians in the second round draw, with the game fixed for Sunday, July 19th owing to Bohemians’ Conference League tie against St Joseph’s three days earlier. Ringmahon had home advantage, but with their home ground ruled unsuitable to host the tie, they initially sought to move the game to Turner’s Cross.

When they learned that Turner’s Cross was unavailable on that date, they explored moving the game to Cobh, before deciding to withdraw from the game altogether. The club said they were worried about a reduced attendance because of Cobh’s distance from their home ground, along with the fixture clashing with the World Cup final and Cork’s potential appearance in the All-Ireland hurling final.

The club proposed moving the game to Friday, Saturday, or Monday of the same weekend, but these dates were unworkable because of Bohemians’ European involvement. Ringmahon also suggested playing the fixture a week earlier, or during a subsequent week, which was not accepted by the FAI. Bohemians offered to host the game at Dalymount Park and pay Ringmahon a larger slice of the gate receipts, but the latter instead felt they were left with no option but to concede the fixture.

The club appeared to make light of the issue immediately after Cork’s heavy All-Ireland hurling semi-final defeat to Galway last Saturday, posting a request on social media for an opponent to play a preseason friendly on the date on which the Bohemians fixture should have been played. The post has since been deleted.

The club have now been heavily sanctioned by an independent disciplinary committee.

“The FAI would like to remind all clubs of their obligations to fulfil fixtures in accordance with FAI Disciplinary Regulations and competition rules,” a statement confirming Ringmahon’s punishment read.

Ringmahon have the right to appeal the decision.