Transfer headache for County Board
Wednesday March 03 2010
WICKLOW GAA have once again been landed with a headache or sorting out which West Wicklow club a player should play for.
Ronan Doyle wants to play for Blesssington GAA Club as he has done since he was eight years old, but neighbouring Lacken are opposed to that.
From Carrig, outside Blessington town, Ronan Doyle resides in the catchment area of the tiny Lacken Club who have a problem with Ronan playing with Blessington as he has done at underage level.
Ronan's father William Doyle has written to the top GAA officials in the county to sort the matter out or else Wicklow could end up losing a player of considerable football talent altogether.
William Doyle says that his son has always played for Blessington and is devoted to that club. 'Ronan has no desire to play for the Lacken Club' he says.
And he warns that if no solution is found to what he describes as a petty little problem, Kildare GAA has arranged for Ronan to play for Kildare.
'Ronan, who is now attending Waterford College and plays GAA with the college, has won sportsman of the year for his school in Naas in successive years and it would be a terrible step backward for Wicklow GAA to lose him,' declares his proud father William. Ronan's older brother Paul is a GAA referee.
County secretary Michael Murphy said that Ronan Doyle is a Lacken player and he got permission on a yearly basis to play with Blessington at underage level. He never was a Blessington player and just got permission to play with them at underage. It happens with many clubs and it does not make him a Blessington player. Once 17 and an adult Ronan automatically returns to Lacken and from then on plays his football with his home club. That's the way the rules work.
'We have the same situation with Glenealy players playing football with Rathnew, and Rathnew players playing hurling with Glenealy, and Barndarrig playing with St. Patrick's when they have no team of their own,' he said.
