GAA director general Páraic Duffy has defended the officials who opted to wait until Sunday morning before making the decision to move the Allianz League Division 1 encounter between Roscommon and Dublin from Hyde Park to Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada.
The match was moved at 9am on Sunday morning from Roscommon to Carrick-on-Shannon, but there was anger in some quarters that officialdom had not arrived at a decision on the venue at an earlier juncture.
Speaking at the unveiling of the organisation’s new National Games Development Centre at Abbotstown, Duffy commented on the tough predicament officials faced.
“This was a difficult decision,” Duffy said.
“The pitch was inspected on Friday and was playable. It was inspected again on Saturday by an inter-county referee and was deemed to be doubtful and the question then was did you let it go to Sunday morning or make a decision on Saturday?
“It was decided to do it early on Sunday morning.
“I accept that some Dublin supporters may have been inconvenienced but it was a big call to take the game out of Roscommon and, in hindsight, I think the decision made to leave it until Sunday morning, on balance, was probably the right one.”
The Monaghan man, like so many others, believes a new playing surface at Hyde Park is absolutely necessary and he wants to see that move expedited.
“Clearly a new pitch needs to be developed there as soon as possible and they’re very aware of that in Roscommon,” Duffy added.
“We support that in Croke Park and I’m sure things will happen very shortly in that regard.”
