Connacht Cup semi-final involving Mayo soccer club set to be replayed
Castlebar Celtic and Salthill Devon look set to replay their Connacht Cup semi-final after the Galway club won an appeal.
The Connacht Cup semi-final involving Castlebar Celtic and Salthill Devon is set to be replayed after the Galway club successfully won an appeal over the result.
In the semi-final, which was played on the May Bank Holiday Weekend, Celtic defeated Salthill 1-0 courtesy of a controversial Luke Kelly goal.
Salthill Devon, however, appealed on the grounds that home officials, in this case Mayo Football League officials, were used for the semi-final in Celtic Park, which goes against Section 24 of the Connacht Football Association’s Amateur & Youth Competition Rules 2023-2024, which pertains to the appointment of officials for semi-finals and finals.
Section 24 states that: ‘The Referee and assistants for Semi Finals and Finals shall be chosen by the Association and shall not be from the same area from which competing teams are from except for the two teams being from the same area.’
The protest was heard and upheld yesterday (Thursday) evening by the Connacht Protest Committee, and the replay will be in Celtic Park on Sunday, May 26 at 2pm. The final has also been pushed back to Sunday, June 2.
Celtic have the right of appeal to the Disciplinary Control Unit of the FAI on the decision under the rules of the FAI Appeals Procedures but it is unknown at this stage whether they will do so.
Elsewhere, the understands that Westport United will have home advantage for the Connacht Shield final on Sunday, May 26, against Moyne Villa. The game is scheduled to be in Umbro Park, Milebush, with Eamonn Deacy Park unavailable on the day.
