South Donegal GAA club Naomh Ultan have rejected out of hand that there is any basis to a report that they and Killybegs are to join forces and form a new underage club.
Club chairman and former Ulster Council representative Terence McGinley refuted the report and insisted there was no basis to the story whatsoever. Indee4d he said he was baffled as to where the report originated and what was behind it.
"The matte
r of amalgamation with Killybegs or the formation of a new underage club was never discussed by us at club level and was never on our agenda," the Naomh Ultan chairman said.
"There may have been informal talks between a number individuals in the two clubs about a number of our U-16s playing with Killybegs due to the fact that we have no U-16 team this year. But that is as far as it ever went and certainly there was no formal discussions at club level on the matter and we have no intention of amalgamating with anyone or forming a new underage club with Killybegs or anyone else either and to suggest otherwise is well off the mark.
"We may not have the numbers for teams this year at minor, U-16 or U-14, but with the exception of the few U-16s, all the rest will get plenty of football with us in the season ahead.
“The minors will play with the U-21s and reserve teams, while the U-14s will play with our U-15 Og Sport team. In fact they are already in training and thankfully we have very good numbers at U-10 and U-12 and they will be competing in all competitions."
While there may have been moves to have a number of the clubs U-16s (believed to be three players) it seems in light of the weekend report and following a meeting of the Naomh Ultan executive committee on Saturday night it now seems that this will not be pursued any further and no application will be made to the county board to allow the clubs U-16s to play with Killybegs.
