Donegal Club's Words Show Class As They Opt Against 16th Man Appeal

There was a shock result in the Donegal Senior Football Championship on Saturday, with defending champions St Eunan’s exiting the competition after an extra-time defeat against Termon in their preliminary quarter-final meeting.

These two sides had only met as recently last week. On that occasion, St Eunan’s would run out as three-point winners in the group fixture.

However, the result would be reversed in this match. Termon emerged victorious by the smallest of margins, winning 1-16 to 0-18 after extra-time.

This was their first ever championship victory over St Eunan’s, but some doubt would emerge as to whether the result will be allowed to stand.

Controversy In Donegal Championship As 16th Player Scores Point

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Enda McCormick would get a key score for Termon against St Eunan’s, putting them two points up towards the end of extra-time. He had only just been introduced as a substitute, but it seems as though that may have resulted in his team having an extra man on the pitch.

In the incident in question, the Termon player that was substituted was still slowly making their way off the pitch as McCormick scored the point. You can see the point in question at 4:11 in the video below.

With St Eunan’s getting a point back soon after, this score would prove to be the winning of the game.

If this iswasproven to be the case, St Eunan’s would have been within their rights to appeal the result. We could then have seen a potential replay should the decision have gone their way.

However, St Eunan’s have now opted against such a move. Cahair O’Kane of the Irish News shared a statement from the 2024 Donegal in which they said that while they would have been entitled to a replay after this incident, they opted against doing so in order to uphold the integrity of the competition.

Following a meeting of the Executive Committee this afternoon, St Eunan’s GAA can confirm that we will not be appealing the outcome of last weekend’s championship fixture against Termon.

The club believes it has a strong case under the rules, given that the winning score resulted directly from a 16th player, while the player being replaced was directly involved in engaging our defenders at the time. St Eunan’s players consulted the match referee at the time and asked him to consult with the linesmen and fourth official which he declined to do.

On this basis, had an appeal been lodged, we are confident that a replay would likely have been granted.

However, St Eunan’s is equally mindful of the principles of sporting integrity and the fact that the incident was not the result of any deliberate act on Termon’s behalf. Our disappointment lies with how the situation was handled by the match officials. The game should not have been allowed to restart until the Termon player being substituted had fully exited the field of play. It was not Termon’s fault, nor was it ours, and we strongly believe that standards of communication and officiating must improve to prevent such incidents in future.

Ultimately, while we remain convinced that our case had merit, the Executive Committee has decided that pursuing the matter through appeal is not in the best interests of the competition. An appeal would cause disruption to the championship and risk undermining its integrity.

For these reasons, St Eunan’s will not be taking the matter further and wish Termon the very best in the remainder of the championship.

A touch of class from St Eunan’s.

While this was a regrettable incident, it has been handled with class by the Donegal clubs involved.

Donegal Club’s Words Show Class As They Opt Against 16th Man Appeal

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