{"id":627786,"date":"2026-09-17T19:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627786\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T19:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:36:08","slug":"rules-of-fair-play-not-applied-huge-disappointment-for-ballinora-as-fermoy-awarded-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627786\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Rules of fair play not applied’: ‘huge disappointment’ for Ballinora as Fermoy awarded victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ballinora have expressed \u201chuge disappointment\u201d at the decision to award last Saturday\u2019s McCarthy Insurance Group PIFC Group 3 Round 3 game to Fermoy<\/a>, after the North Cork club\u2019s objection to the officially drawn match was upheld on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

The ruling overturns what had appeared to be a 0-21 to 2-15 stalemate in Glenville and instead records the fixture as a 0-22 to 2-15 Fermoy victory \u2014 a change Ballinora say leaves them \u201cdisproportionately\u201d affected and denied the chance to conclude the matter on the field of play.<\/p>\n

The controversy arose from a scoring error in referee Wayne King\u2019s report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both teams entered the tie knowing that a win would secure progression, while Ballinora\u2019s superior scoring difference meant a draw would also be enough to send them through.<\/p>\n

Ballinora\u2019s statement to The Echo early on Thursday morning makes clear their frustration.<\/p>\n

Fermoy\u2019s objection centred on a 30th\u2011minute point from Ben Twomey, followed moments later by a two\u2011point effort from the same player. Those scores should have brought Fermoy to 0-10 at the interval, but only nine were recorded.<\/p>\n

Once verified, Fermoy\u2019s final tally rose to 0-22 \u2014 enough to edge Ballinora\u2019s 2-15 by a single point and overturn the drawn result.<\/p>\n

Ballinora, last year\u2019s IAFC champions, had led 2-7 to 0-9 at half\u2011time, but the corrected scoring sequence has changed the outcome entirely, placing Fermoy into the quarter\u2011finals against Rockchapel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Macroom will meet Naomh Ab\u00e1n in the other quarter-final tie.<\/p>\n

Both of those games are down for Sunday week.<\/p>\n

In their statement, Ballinora said it was \u201cmost disappointing\u201d that the referee\u2019s officially communicated scores and \u201cthe rules of fair play\u201d were not applied.<\/p>\n

The club added that they \u201cwill now, it appears, disproportionately suffer\u201d and highlighted that they have not been offered the opportunity to replay the match. They confirmed they are \u201cfully considering\u201d their position and have contacted Fermoy directly seeking a second chance to resolve the matter on the pitch.<\/p>\n

The full Ballinora statement to The Echo read: \u201cBallinora GAA notes with huge disappointment the decision to award the McCarthy Insurance Group PIFC Group 3 Round 3 game played on September 12th 2026 to Fermoy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This followed a formal objection to the officially drawn game by Fermoy GAA, who sought to have the game awarded to them based on subsequently produced video evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is most disappointing that as things stand, and at the end of what was a fine sporting game by both teams, the referee\u2019s officially communicated half\u2011time and full\u2011time scoreline plus what Ballinora would deem as the rules of fair play, are not being applied here.<\/p>\n

\u201cBallinora will, it now appears, disproportionately suffer as a result and, as things currently stand, will not be given the opportunity to get a second chance to play the match again on the field of play.<\/p>\n

\u201cBallinora are currently fully considering its position on all matters. We would wish to be given the opportunity to conclude this matter on the field of play and have directly reached out to our sporting colleagues in Fermoy GAA in that regard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wish to abide by the post\u2011match awarding of the game to them, but we will ask them again to consider the position.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wish to sincerely thank all of those who have provided overwhelming recent support in respect of this matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo further club statements or public communication will be issued until further notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cYours in Sport, Ballinora GAA Club & Premier Intermediate Football Team and Management.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ballinora have expressed \u201chuge disappointment\u201d at the decision to award last Saturday\u2019s McCarthy Insurance Group PIFC Group 3…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2110,15389,1964,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-627786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-cork-sport","tag-cork-county-championship","tag-cork-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}