Kildare's stand-off with the GAA over the venue for their All-Ireland qualifier against Mayo is a 'farcical scenario' of the Association's own making, according to John Maughan.
However the former Mayo manager believes Kildare have backed themselves into a corner with their very public stance and insistence that it is 'Newbridge or Nowhere'.
Despite being drawn first in Monday's qualifier draw and gaining home advantage, Kildare's round 3 qualifier with Mayo is fixed for Croke Park on Saturday evening, with the GAA stating health and safety reasons for not allowing the game to be played in the Lilywhite's county ground of St Conleth's Park.
"I think the principle of home advantage for Kildare is right to defend and state a strong case for. No issue with that whatsoever," Maughan told Sean O'Rourke on RTÉ Radio 1's Today programme.
"I think it is a farcical scenario. I think this all could have been avoided if Croke Park had, when they were deciding that Division 3 and 4 teams at this junction would have home advantage, to give them advantage, they should have introduced a caveat.
"It is a mistake and they have to sort out the mess now," added Vaughan, who believes the GAA needed to specifically outline which counties could and could not host qualifier matches before the draw was made.
However Maughan has not been impressed with Kildare's negotiation tactics.
We need your consent to load this SoundCloud contentWe use SoundCloud to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
"Kildare have backed themselves into a corner, this should have been dealt with behind closed doors. There should have been some sort of an arrangement, but coming out publicly as Cian O'Neill did yesterday and Kildare management did saying it is St Conleth's Park or nowhere, I don't think that is helpful and what we have now is a very, very entrenched situation," he added.
"You will not hear a comment form Mayo because why would they get involved here but it is a position where nobody wants to be. It is very unfortunate."
Former Kildare forward Johnny Doyle was also on Today and he does not believe the GAA's argument that the 8,000-capacity St Conleth's Park is too small holds water in this instance.
"Sometime venues don't suit the capacity, if you went with that argument you would not be able to hold the All-Ireland final because you would probably sell 100,000 tickets. I think that argument has been lost, particularly with the general public," said Doyle.
"All we want to see is a game. Cian O'Neill is very, very adamant that they won't be in Croke Park."
However, at this point, with the GAA and Kildare both refusing to budge, the prospect of Kildare being in Newbridge when the ball is thrown in at Croke Park seems a distinct possibility.
Maughan says Mayo would have no choice but to accept a walkover.
"We would have no option but that would be a farcical situation and an insult to Kildare inter-county footballers, who we have great respect for. We have a great relationship and we hope it will not be tarnished by this impasse, but wouldn't it be a farcical situation to think the inter-county players of Kildare would be togged out warming up in St Conleth's Park.
"They talk about player welfare and the GPA have got involved to an extent, but wouldn't that be an insult and an absolute disgrace," he added.
"I hope we have a game, but we will have no choice but to accept a walkover if we are instructed to be in Croke Park."
