LAST UPDATE | 23 Aug

JON DALY HAS reacted furiously to the FAI’s decision to postpone Dundalk’s Premier Division clash with St Patrick’s Athletic less than 48 hours before the sides were due to meet at Oriel Park.

The Lilywhites manager labelled the matter farcical and says the sporting integrity of the League of Ireland has been called into question as a result.

Saints boss Stephen Kenny had his wish granted earlier in the day having publicly implored the FAI to move Sunday’s game from their slate of fixtures to allow them to best prepare for their date with history away to Istanbul Basaksehir in the UEFA Conference League play-off on Wednesday.

Kenny’s side produced an excellent performance in drawing 0-0 with the Turkish big guns at Tallaght Stadium on Thursday night, leaving themselves 90 minutes away from qualifying for this season’s group stages.

Any kind of victory at the Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium next Wednesday would see Pats book group-stage European football for the first time and, with Shamrock Rovers already assured of the same, it would mark the first time ever that two League of Ireland clubs have qualified for a major European competition.

Kenny, however, was furious that while the Turkish league would break this weekend to prioritise its clubs in European qualifiers, Pats faced the prospect of playing three games in six days, with a trip to Oriel Park preceding a pivotal journey to Istanbul.

After the League of Ireland heeded Kenny’s complaints and freed up Pats’ schedule to focus solely on their tie in Turkey, pointing out the quicker-than-usual turnaround between Thursday’s first leg and Wednesday’s decider as part of their reasoning, Daly hit out at how it could affect Dundalk’s hopes of staying in the top flight.

Citing the fact Shamrock Rovers played their relegation rivals Drogheda United in similar circumstances last week, the Dundalk boss said: “Forty six hours before calling the game off, it’s not good enough. It’s not good enough. At 10 to 5 this afternoon [we found out]. I understand why they done but there should be a precedent set, a rule in place that if the team gets to the group stages that should happen, but Shamrock Rovers played last week against Drogheda in between a fixture that, if they had have won they were guaranteed group stages, but that game wasn’t called off for the good of the league.

“Listen, I would love Pat’s to go through, I want Pat’s to go through, of course I do. But I also want what’s best for Dundalk and us playing them after playing in Europe gives us a bit of an edge, the same way Drogheda got a point at Shamrock Rovers after playing them in Europe.

“Everybody knows the rules, they know what they’ve signed up for and I think unless they put a rule in place, which they should do, that if a club gets to the play-off stage the game is called up. But to do it 46 hours before the game is due to be played is farcical and makes the league look amateurish. It really does.

“People will say other games have been called off in other leagues, but the other leagues have only just started, so they have plenty of time to fit games in. We’ve got nine games left. I think the sporting integrity, you look at that and it has to be called into question. It’s not good enough for the league, it’s really poor.”

“Every excuse that they’ve given was known last week when they went through, so if they were going to do it, they could have done it last week, they knew the game was six days, but that’s not just happened in the last 48 hours, that was always happening. So the excuse they’ve given is not good enough,” Daly said.

A league statement confirmed that “this Sunday’s SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division fixture between Dundalk and St. Patrick’s Athletic has been postponed.

“The postponement comes as a result of the unique opportunity that now exists for two League of Ireland Clubs to compete in the League Phase of Uefa club competitions for the first time as St Patrick’s Athletic travel to Istanbul for the second leg of their Uefa Conference League play-off with İstanbul Başakşehir.

“Having taken into consideration the exceptional circumstances that the fixtures between each leg for St Patrick Athletic is six days instead of the standard seven, the League of Ireland has postponed this Sunday’s fixture at Oriel Park and a new date will be announced in due course.”

Additional reporting Gavan Casey