Grange’s game with Barrowhouse GAA in Stradbally this weekend is off, leaving the Carlow men to progress to the quarter-finals of the AIB Leinster club junior football championship.
Barrowhouse GAA issued a short statement on Friday afternoon citing mounting injuries as a cause for withdrawal.
“It is with great regret that Barrowhouse GAA have informed CLG Laois and Comhairle Laighean CLG of our club decision to withdraw from tomorrow’s (Saturday) Leinster JFC fixture in Stradbally”, reads a statement shared to social media on Friday afternoon.
“This unfortunately is due to a large number of injured players and a smaller number of unavoidable player absences on Saturday. We had already lost a number of key players ahead of last Sunday’s Laois Junior Football Final and we lost more to injury during that game.”
“In fact, some played on into Extra Time with injuries which has now exasperated our problems. We are a small club with a restricted adult player base and did not take this decision lightly and we are devastated we cannot fulfil tomorrow’s fixture.”
“We extend our apologies for the lateness of our decision and communication, but we as a club did everything we possibly could to try to give injured players every chance of recovery, but alas to no avail. We would like to thank Stradbally GAA for offering to act as host club venue on our behalf and we wish Grange GAA the best of luck in the competition.”
Grange will now have home advantage on Saturday 4 December with a 1pm throw-in where they’ll face the winners of Kilcullen (Kildare) and Barndarrig (Wicklow)
