THE UNIVERSITY teams are ‘unlikely’ to compete in the Dr McKenna Cup, the Ulster Council has said.
The Sigerson Cup is set to be completed before the end of January 2020 – three weeks earlier than was the case this year.
The Dr McKenna Cup will get underway on the last weekend of December, but now it is set to proceed without the three University sides – Queen’s, Ulster University and St Mary’s.
The issue was raised at an Ulster Council CCC meeting last night.
“Two scenarios were put to committee members – the one which was adopted and another which would have meant all three group rounds of the Dr McKenna Cup played in December,” Ulster Council Secretary, Brian McAvoy, said
“There was little appetite from counties to start the competition pre-Christmas, a scenario which would have meant at least five counties having no organised pre-season games in the month of January.
“With the Sigerson Cup now being run-off in the month of January it’s unlikely now that our university teams will be able to participate in the 2020 competition.
“Ulster GAA has always valued greatly the participation of Queen’s, Ulster University and St. Mary’s in the Dr. McKenna Cup and we continued to offer them the opportunity to play in our pre-season football competition, even when other provinces did not.”
Donegal manager Declan Bonner (pictured) is already underway with his planning for the new campaign.
