Pike Rovers will learn their fate on Wednesday afternoon

PIKE Rovers will learn their FAI Junior Cup fate on Wednesday afternoon when the District League club takes part in an arbitration hearing which could have a dramatic effect on their entire 2009-10 campaign.
The Hoops opted to go to arbitration following the FAI’s decision to throw them out of the FAI Junior Cup.
Three weeks ago the defending District League champions were left reeling when news reached the club that the Football Association of Ireland had ruled against them and denied the Hoops their chance to reach a first-ever FAI Junior Cup final.
Pike Rovers beat St. Michael’s 4-2 in the quarter-finals at Cooke Park, but the Tipperary club then lodged objections against six of the Pike players on the grounds that they were ineligible to take part in the competition.
The objection concerned the movement of players from League of Ireland clubs back to junior football.
Originally, the FAI Junior Council heard that appeal and ordered a replay of the game. However, both Pike Rovers and St. Michael’s appealed that decision to the senior body.
The FAI’s decision effectively means that St. Michael’s will now take on Clonmel Town in the FAI Junior Cup semi-finals with a place in the final against Limerick’s Fairview Rangers up for grabs.
Prominent members of the Pike Rovers club are furious that the FAI made their decision based on the ineligibility of a player during the earlier rounds of the competition.
St. Michael’s lodged an objection concerning their quarter-final clash, but the player in question was eligible for that particular game.
Effectively the Football Association of Ireland made their decision based on the fact that the player was illegal during the earlier rounds of the competition even though no objection was lodged concerning those particular games.
The Pike Rovers players were devastated by the FAI’s decision and their suffering was made all the more acute when the club learned that their Munster Junior Cup semi-final against Carrick United (scheduled for Sunday, April 18) would be postponed.
The Munster Junior Council have decided to await the result of the arbitration process before deciding on what action to take in relation to Pike Rovers’ involvement in that competition. To make matters worse for Pike Rovers there is also the possibility that the FAI decision could affect their Kilmurry Lodge Premier League campaign.
The Hoops are chasing a third consecutive Limerick District League title, but following the recent FAI decision it is understood that at least two local clubs have approached the LDMC requesting that they be awarded the points from their encounters with Pike Rovers this season.

BRIAN MCDONNELL