“It Wasn’t Fair” – Mark McHugh cries foul over GAA All-Ireland draw timing
Mark McHugh blasted the GAA’s scheduling after Westmeath’s win over Cavan, insisting the early All-Ireland Round 1 draw handed beaten sides a massive advantage.The Leinster champions won a thriller in front of their home fans on Saturday night, but McHugh admitted afterwards that he felt Westmeath were disadvantaged by the set-up as Cavan had nearly a month to prepare specifically for them.The Westmeath manager said the current system was “a joke” and argued the draw should only be made after the provincial finals are completed.“The bit that annoyed me, I suppose, and I’m going to say this now — the draw should never have been made. Like, that was a joke,” said McHugh.“I know I didn’t really say it before and if we lost today it would be sour grapes.“But to have the draw away back then let Cavan have four weeks on us, that was unfair on us because ultimately we probably didn’t look at Cavan until about ten days out.”McHugh pointed to the other provincial winners who found themselves in similar situations this weekend, with beaten sides able to regroup and tailor their plans around confirmed opponents.“The same issue favoured Tyrone going down to Roscommon, or Donegal going down to Kerry,” he said.“If they’re so worried about logistics and having draws so early then why is the Round 2 draw not on The Sunday Game tonight instead of this coming Tuesday?“It wasn’t fair, it just wasn’t fair.”McHugh acknowledged Westmeath’s reward for winning Leinster was home advantage, but insisted it still did not balance out the preparation gap.“Obviously the home advantage was the plus of getting to the Leinster final, but it wasn’t enough and it wasn’t fair.“That was the ambush waiting on you. Kerry got it, Roscommon got it.”The Westmeath boss also admitted former coach Dermot McCabe played a major role in helping Cavan expose gremlins in their set-up.“We knew that was going to happen, and Dermot obviously knew everything about Westmeath,” said McHugh.“We worked with him last year and we know what kind of a coach he is. He would have had them ready and he probably pick-pocketed us in our game plan for a while today.“But I thought we played a lot of good football and, bar maybe our kick-out press not being up to scratch and maybe a few kick-outs ourselves, there wasn’t much in it.”Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond.
