BY ADRIAN RUTHERFORD
DUNGANNON Swifts' CIS Cup campaign has been thrown into chaos after the Irish Football Association postponed this weekend's match against Ballymena United at the last minute.
Both Saturday's matches in Group A have been put back until October 9 because Linfield have three players called up for international duty, meaning the issue of who joins the Blues in the CIS Cup quarter-finals may not be resolved for another month.
The decision to call off the game was made late on Monday night even though neither Dungannon nor Ballymena are affected by the call-ups, which relate to both the Northern Ireland senior and U21 squads for this weekend's international programme.
According to IFA officials the decision to postpone Dungannon's game is to "protect the sporting integrity of the competition", thus preventing any team gaining an unfair advantage in the three-way battle to qualify for the knockout stages.
The issue started last Saturday when Linfield approached the IFA requesting their home match with Glenavon be postponed because they have three first team players away on international duty this weekend.
Goalkeeper Alan Mannus has been called up by Nigel Worthington for the senior side's Euro 2008 qualifying double-header against Latvia and Iceland on Saturday and Wednesday night.
Thomas Stewart and Jamie Mulgrew have also been selected for Roy Millar's U21 squad for their match against Germany on Friday night and the away tie in Luxembourg next Wednesday, September 12.
Under FIFA rules the IFA was obliged to move the game to the next suitable date, October 9. But FIFA directives also state that decisive competition matches must have simultaneous kick-off times where qualification issues are still at stake.
Thus Dungannon's match with Ballymena has also been moved back three weeks to coincide with the Linfield and Glenavon match, thus avoiding a scenario where Glenavon would enter the match knowing for certain what was required to qualify.
An IFA statement said: "The Premier League Committee at a meeting (on Monday) considered a request from Linfield to postpone their CIS Insurance Cup tie against Glenavon, scheduled for Windsor Park on Saturday September 8, due to the selection of three players for international duty.
"Alan Mannus has been selected for the 'A' squad and Thomas Stewart and Jamie Mulgrew for the U21 squad. In light of this request the match has been postponed and rescheduled for Tuesday October 9.
"As a consequence and to protect the sporting integrity of the competition it has also been decided that the Dungannon Swifts v Ballymena United match, scheduled for Saturday September 8, will also be postponed and rescheduled for Tuesday October 9."
But the decision has angered Dungannon manager Harry Fay, who claimed the move had badly affected the club's preparations both on and off the field for what would have been a potentially decisive match this weekend.
"I'm bitterly disappointed but there is not a thing we can do about it," he said. "We have explored all avenues but it's an IFA decision, they make the rules, and we just have to abide by their decision.
"It's a blow on two fronts. From a football point of view we were ready for the match and were looking forward to it after last Saturday's performance at Linfield. We had gained a bit of momentum and were hoping to build on that against Ballymena.
"It's also a blow commercially because we had match sponsors and corporate affairs arranged and they have to be abandoned. A lot of people behind the scenes have been caught blind by this decision.
"We were also hoping to generate some extra money through our social club. This was a home match and we had anticipated a lot of people would stay behind to watch the Northern Ireland match on Sky TV, as it's not on terrestrial television, but that's also gone.
"There's nothing that can be done and obviously Linfield are within their rights to ask for the match to be postponed. We just have to get on with the situation and be ready for our next game, albeit in two weeks' time against Glenavon."
It also means that Dungannon will not have their CIS Cup fate resolved for another month, until the match against Ballymena is eventually played on October 9.
