Shelbourne to fight on

Shelbourne secretary Ollie Byrne yesterday vowed to continue the fight to have last week's game against Cork City replayed after the National League's Board of Control voted unanimously that the result should stand despite the admission by referee Jimmy O'Neill that he had ended the match prematurely.

Yesterday's meeting at the League's offices in Merrion Square heard submissions from both clubs, as well as from the referee and match observer, before voting on the issue. All eight members present voted for the 2-1 Cork win to stand.

"What they are appear to be saying is that the referee made a mistake, but Shelbourne should pay for it," said Byrne afterwards. "But that's not acceptable and if we have to go all the way to FIFA to get justice on this issue, then that is what we will do."

First stop for the Dublin club, though, will be the League's Protests Committee which is now likely to meet some time next week in order to consider the matter again. Shelbourne appear unlikely to get on any better with that panel, but Byrne is determined that he will exhaust all of the domestic channels open to him before he brings the matter to the international body.

A spokesman for the League paid tribute to the way that Byrne had presented his case for a replay, but the board's members clearly remained unconvinced by his argument that O'Neill's error meant that the game had not been played in accordance with the rules of the game and therefore should be rescheduled.

"I have the greatest admiration for Jimmy O'Neill," said Byrne. "The fact that he was man enough to admit his mistake is impressive, but it's simply not good enough for the league to say `well, there you go, you'll just have to take it on the chin'."

Cork City chairman Terry Dunne said that while he felt sympathy for Shelbourne, the decision was a welcome one. "If the boot was on the other foot, you'd have to accept it, too. It's terrible that something like this happened, but if you started replaying games every time a referee made a mistake there'd be no telling where it would all end."

In addition to the Protest Committee's hearing of Shelbourne's complaint next week, the League's Disciplinary Committee is also likely to consider events in Cork last Sunday when it meets on Tuesday. It will discuss the sendings-off of two Shelbourne players and consider allegations regarding the behaviour of club officials after the game.