Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan has backed Antrim’s stance on refusing to play their home Ulster SFC clash against Armagh at Páirc Esler in Newry.
The Ulster Council’s ruling the provincial quarter-final must take place at a bigger venue than Antrim’s Corrigan Park, which has a capacity of about 4,000, has led to a standoff between the fixture makers and Andy McEntee’s team.
The Antrim footballers insist they will not play the April 12th game outside of Corrigan Park.
“Absolutely,” said Morgan when asked if he supported Antrim’s viewpoint.
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“The way I have seen it from the start, if they weren’t willing to give Antrim the home advantage in the championship, they shouldn’t have allowed them to play their league games there as well.
“Corrigan Park, that’s Antrim’s home ground. At the end of the day, Casement Park should have been built long ago, it hasn’t been built and if they haven’t got a bigger stadium, that’s not Antrim’s fault.
“The GAA are always saying about how much money they’re putting into stadiums and infrastructure.”
Morgan, who is also co-chair of the GPA’s national executive committee, hopes the impasse can be resolved.
“It’s probably running out of time. The players are now sitting thinking if Antrim play this weekend in the league, is that their season over because are they allowed to play in the Tailteann Cup if they don’t fulfil their fixture in Ulster?
“I just think it’s totally unfair what’s happening and I’m full of admiration for Antrim that they’re really sticking their heels in and not budging on it. I think it’s commendable.
“It’s a really tough thing to do at a time where it would be much easier to say, ‘You know what, we tried, we’ll just move on and we’ll go to Newry and play it’, so I think it’s brilliant of them and I just really hope it works out in the right way.”
Back on the field, it has been a league of much learning for Morgan. For much of the season the Tyrone number one was the poster boy for the new rules and the greater impact of goalkeepers on Gaelic football.
However, before the recent FRC’s tweaks, he spoke out against any potentially draconian moves to curtail the goalkeeper.
“I was always going to be happy as long as they didn’t say you just can’t leave your line. I think that was sort of where I was at on it, I just didn’t want [goalkeepers] to be completely penned in.
“I’ve said before, I’m all for changes if it progresses the game and makes it more exciting for people to see. I just didn’t want them to decide that with a particular position you weren’t allowed to do something on the pitch.”
Sunday could see two of the most innovative goalkeepers of all time go head-to-head when Dublin travel to Omagh – and Morgan wasn’t surprised to see Stephen Cluxton return for the 2025 season.
“No, not at all. I sort of knew that whenever he played the Interprovincials before Christmas he was probably seeing what it was going to be like,” said the current All-Star goalkeeper.
“I maybe didn’t expect to see him so early, usually they don’t play him until Leinster but obviously because of the new rules they’re trying to get him more adapted to it.
“It’s going to be a massive change for him again too because he’s been so used to probably being the best at finding short kick-outs, but as we saw at the weekend he quickly adapted after half-time and the whole thing seemed to open up for him, so we’ll get a front-row seat at the weekend in Omagh.”
Morgan was speaking at the announcement of John West’s 10-year anniversary as sponsors of the GAA’s under-15 annual Féile Peile na nÓg (football) and Féile na nGael (camogie and hurling) competitions. This year’s national Division One hurling and camogie finals will take place at the Wexford GAA Centre of Excellence in Ferns on Saturday, June 21st. The football finals will take place at the Derry GAA Centre of Excellence at Owenbeg on Saturday, June 28th.
