By Frank Craig
sports editor

Fr Tierney Park’s entitlement to secondary ground funding was spectacularly voted out in favour of O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny at Monday night’s sitting of the monthly county committee meeting in Ballybofey.
There seemed to be a collective concern that this county board, or the previous regime, had, at some time or another, implied or even endorsed the Ballyshannon ground in previous correspondence to the various governing and funding bodies.
This however, was a matter for the clubs to decide and thus far they hadn’t. Letters from an Comhairle Uladh and the GAA’s Director of Finance, Tom Ryan were read out, dealing with the specifics of nominating and funding but the ambiguity remained as to which ground should be officially recognised as the county’s second.
Donegal County Board secretary, Aodh Mairtin O’Fearraigh read out a letter from an Comhairle Uladh, in reply to correspondence he sent out on June 15, looking for further clarification on documentation that was sent down, in which it was alleged that Donegal had made a submission back in 2008 nominating Ballyshannon for a secondary county ground.
However, O’Fearraigh insisted: “I didn’t think it was clear from that communication that that was actually the case.” Correspondence from the GAA’s Director of Finance, Tom Ryan was also read out by chairman PJ McGowan stating that: “There is no time limit for the funding. And it is possible to play NFL games at both venues as long as they are up to standard. But we will only fund one.
“As regards to which ground, it has to be a matter of agreement between county and province as your application needs both provincial approval and provincial funds committed to it. I see it as a matter for yourselves and Ulster to tell us which ground you want to go with.
It was at this moment that St Eunan’s delegate Paddy Mullin asked for clarity as to which ground would receive the actual nomination, and sought reassurances that the process would be addressed through the correct and fair channels and without any undue influence – to with the chairman ensured him there was not.
Mullin said: “There is an attempt to muddy the waters here. Fair play to Aodh Ruadh – they’ve been allocated funding by the Ulster Council. But that is totally different to what we have been raising since February. The National Infrastructure and Safety Committee (NISC) asked Donegal to nominate a secondary county ground to go forward for funding in the future in June 2009. Donegal has not yet made that decision.”
Mullin insisted that the fact that Ballyshannon had already been approved funding was irrelevant in the over all scheme of things insisting: “The fact that Ulster has allocated funding to Ballyshannon is irrelevant – we as a county have not decided which ground should go forward. We still haven’t got a designated ground. Funding has been allocated, but who gave Ulster Council permission to pre-empt this meeting?”
Two proposals were then made – the first, to send written correspondence to Croke Park that no decision had yet being made on the location of the county’s secondary ground. The second was that the issue would be decided on the night. The decision was put to ballot with the second proposal winning out on a score of 30 to 16.
Both the Aodh Ruadh delegate John Travers, and the St Eunan’s representation of Mr
Mullin then stated the cases of their respective clubs before the decision was finally addressed by secret ballot.
The result saw O’Donnell Park favoured on a count of 31 to 15, with four spoiled votes.