’Stute to be booted out?

In that game the Waterside men brought on Joe McCready ten minutes from time and that substitution looks to have cost them a place in next month’s final.

The striker played 14 games in the Premier Division while on loan with Dungannon Swifts earlier in the season and under the rules of the Intermediate Cup ‘no player can play more than 12 senior games during the current season and still play in the Intermediate Cup’.

Incredibly McCready was awarded a man of the match award in ’Stute’s quarter-final win over Ards Rangers, however it wasn’t until the semi-final when Dergview put in a protest following last week’s game, which the Drumahoe men won 2-1.

For Institute’s Head of Development Paul Kee he like everyone at the club is bitterly disappointed that they look set to be booted out of the competition.

“They are all very disappointed because to get to a final and then being actually told that you aren’t there, is a tough one to take and it’s not a nice place to be,” admitted Kee.

Kee hopes lessons will have been learned from this mistake.“It’s not nice that an administrative error has cost us and I’m sure that it’s something we’ll learn from for the future,” he continued.

“Rules are rules and that is the reason they are there, to be honest I’m not too sure what merit there is about that rule, it’s an old rule and maybe it’s something which has to be reviewed.

“We have signed Darren McCauley from Coleraine and had Joe on loan at Dungannon and at the end of the day they have to play first team games, so for us to get punished for this is disappointing and it’s a silly rule, which needs to be looked at.”

Club chairman, Trevor Hewitt said he wanted to say ‘sorry’ to both players and supporters because of the consequences of the error.

Sentinel Sport tried to contact the IFA for comment but no one was available.