Local twist on Cork strike

Just heard of another local twist on the rules about teams failing to field twice being put out of a competition.
Earlier this year of course Cork footballers and hurlers were allowed to play in the National Leagues despite failing to field in their first two games.
They should of course have been given the heave ho from the competitions but headquarters facilitated them after a resolution was found to the strike which claimed the head of football manager Teddy Holland.
At home our senior side Ardoyne Kickhams' game with St John's was called off today.
This was the third time that St John's had failed to field in the Division 3 competition.
Initially I thought this was because a lot of the Division One sides were finding it tough to field second teams in the lower divisions because of a ruling that the Division One and lower division games have to be played at the same time.
I think this is fair because our experience has been that you just don't know what you are going to face when you play a 'reserve' side.
In the past when there were two games on at the same time you played against what was genuinely the reserve team.
However, if there is no senior game that day then you can find yourself up against a side with ten Division One players getting a run out.
I had assumed that the Johnnies, who are one of the biggest clubs in our county, was surprisingly finding it tough to field two different sides on the day.
I have since heard and have no confirmation as yet that the troubles may actually be an internal problem in the club between the interests of football and hurling.
We have been told by sources in the county that the hurling manager has laid down restrictions on his players playing football in what is one of the biggest remaining dual clubs.
If that is the case then the county should have acted.
A club's internal affairs shouldn't be allowed to create mayhem with the fixture list which will require quite a bit of rejigging if the Johnnies are to return to the league.
Of course we want the games, there are not enough club games already but refixtures have not done us any favours in the past.
I wonder too what the powers that be's reaction would have been if the internal difficulties were in a smaller club like ours rather than in one of the top sides.
One cautionary note for the Johnnies about all this is to look at their near neighbours Rossa.
They too have been one of the dual giants of the game in Antrim, with a great history.
However after winning a county hurling title in 1988 and going on to reach an All-Ireland club final in 1989 the club almost totally neglected football in the quest for the hurling holy grail.
Unfortunately for Rossa the great Dunloy side, which despite falling at the last hurdle four times at Croke Park, arrived on the scene and it took Rossa another 15 years to win a hurling title in Antrim falling short by the minimum against Dunloy on several occasions.
Meanwhile the football team has fallen into Division 2 and is playing in the intermediate championship.
There are signs this year that at last they are on the way back but the Johnnies should have a good look at what happened just down the road when they have a look at their future development.