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O'Rourke
disappointed with GAC decision - 18/07/03 2003
Ulster Football Championship - Final Replay
Tyrone v Down 
@ 2.30 p.m. Clones, Sunday 20th July 2003
All Ticket Game (live on RTE and
BBC)
Down have delayed naming their team to face Tyrone until Saturday 19th, at the
earliest after the confimation of Gregory McCartan's suspension. Manager Paddy
O'Rourke also admitted that he is disappointed in the GAC's decision to uphold
McCartan's ban. McCartan's absence has left manager Paddy
O'Rourke with a major selection headache. He needs to find a replacement for McCartan
at midfield and also a replacement free-taker. McCartan will serve a four-week
ban and will only feature again in the Championship if Down make it to the semi-final
stage. O'Rourke commented: “We're very disappointed. We
felt he was wrongly sent off in the first place and that once the GAC looked at
it that they would have overturned the decision. He's a massive player for us,
a massive leader, he's our free-taker - and we have to plan without him now. “He's
a massive loss; it would be a major loss to anybody to lose a player of his calibre.
I feel sorry for Gregory because he worked so hard to get himself back to the
level of fitness that you need to play at this level and to lose out because of
a decision like that is very tough on him.” O'Rourke admits
that preparation and planning for the replay has been hampered this week, because,
they were awaiting the GAC's verdict. “It has affected us,” he admitted. “I suppose,
up until Wednesday night we probably felt that we would have had him available
for the replay. “The main thing is that we're disappointed.
Nobody could say that what he did deserved a red card. The fact that it wasn't
overturned when people sat down to look at it, well, I would be very disappointed
in that,” he concluded.
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