Cork County Board may incur the wrath of the GAA after releasing a statement claiming their footballers would likely be in an All-Ireland semi-final had it not been for a "totally wrong refereeing decision".
Among the accusations, the Rebels' hierarchy also pointed the finger at the quick turnaround and weather conditions for Brian Cuthbert's side exiting the competition in the the qualifiers.
The Rebels suffered an eight point defeat to Kildare last week and as a result Cuthbert announced that he would not stay on in his role as manager.
The statement began by paying tribute to the hard work of the manager this year, saying:
"The Executive of Cork County Board would like to express its sincere thanks to Brian Cuthbert for his two years at the helm of the Cork Senior Football team.
"Brian made great strides with a largely new-look team playing excellent football, and steered them through two successful Allianz League campaigns which saw them top the league in both years, reaching the semi-final in 2014 and the final in 2015."
The statement then goes on to criticise officials during the first Munster final showdown with Kerry.
"The tremendous performance of the team in the drawn Munster Final has been widely acknowledged, and it is quite probable that but for a totally wrong refereeing decision in that game, Cork would now be in an All-Ireland Semi-Final."
Mark Collins was adjudged to have fouled James O’Donoghue in the area and last year's Footballer of the Year made no mistake from the spot to give his team a lifeline.
Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s side went onto snatch a draw in the dying seconds and then triumph in the replay.
The county board then went a step further to cite the quick turnaround and poor weather as reasons why they failed to set-up a quarter-final fixture.
"The short turn-around time between the replay, played in exhausting weather conditions, and the qualifier game against Kildare, cannot be ignored as a factor in that defeat."
The statement does take aim at officials and may well land the county in trouble with the powers that be in GAA Headquarters.
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