Offaly have confirmed they are withdrawing from Sunday's O'Byrne Cup semi-final against Louth, citing player welfare concerns.
Liam Kearns' side progressed to the semi-final after a three-point away win over an experimental Dublin side in Parnell Park on Wednesday night, after which the Offaly manager warned that he "wouldn't mind dropping out of the competition" and that the integrity of the tournament had been damaged by Louth offering a walkover to Wexford.
This afternoon, Offaly confirmed that they would not be fulfilling their semi-final fixture, meaning Louth will now progress directly to the final against Longford, which will take place on Saturday 21 January.
In their statement, Offaly said they had floated the idea of pushing the semi-final back to the 20/21 January but that their opponents were unable to accommodate the request.
"Offaly GAA have reluctantly informed Leinster GAA this morning that we are unable to fulfil our proposed O'Byrne Cup semi-final fixture v Louth on Sunday," the county said in a statement, released early this afternoon.
"Offaly county board requested a deferral of the game to Friday 20 January or Saturday 21 January, which would have required a new date for the final. Leinster GAA were willing to explore the idea, however, Louth GAA could not facilitate our request.
"Offaly GAA have a large number of players playing Sigerson Cup next week, and we also have a number of injured and sick players. Following consultation with team management, players, and county board, we agreed that we could not field a team without asking a large number of players to play their third game in eight days in current conditions. Medical and player welfare advice was very much against that happening.
"Offaly GAA, our team management and players remain fully committed to all competitions we enter and have really enjoyed the O'Byrne Cup challenge over the past week. However, we cannot field a team this weekend without putting some of our players at risk of injury."
The announcement is the latest blow to the competition, which has now seen of four of its six scheduled fixtures cancelled this week.
Louth and Kildare offered walkovers to Wexford and Westmeath respectively. The Laois-Carlow game was initially postponed due to a waterlogged pitch in Stradbally and rescheduled for this weekend, but Carlow subsequently withdrew due to "sickness, injuries and Sigerson Cup commitments."
The Leinster council reacted to the move by saying that they had accepted Offaly's decision "with regret" and warned that "On the back of three similar walkovers, and despite counties having been informed of the proposed structure as far back as November, the integrity of the competition has now been diminished.
"In future, counties will have to give serious consideration to their fixture schedule before committing to participating."
