Donegal GAA call special committee meeting for Thursday evening to update clubs on Academy controversy

And it has now emerged that the county executive has organised the meeting specifically to address media coverage of the fallout.

The entire project was catapulted into crisis with the resignation of Karl Lacey as Head of Academy Development, with a host of coaches subsequently standing down in support of the multi-decorated former Donegal star.

Clubs received notification on Tuesday that a special meeting to deal with the Academy issue was being convened for the Donegal GAA Training Centre in Convoy at 8.30pm on Thursday.

And according to donegallive.ie, clubs immediately sought additional information regarding this singular agenda item and were furnished with some further clarity this morning.

Clubs have been told that the meeting is called “to address recent media/publications surrounding the Academy and other unrelated matters raised in these media/publications.

The board has been inundated with requests from the media to issue a response or make a reply.

“It was decided by the county executive on Monday night that the appropriate forum to address these matters is at county committee level, thus, the reason for calling this special county committee meeting.”

However, local media are not usually permitted to attend regular county board meetings. Independent.ie was unable to make contact with several members of the Donegal GAA executive at time of going to press.

Donegal have been embroiled in trouble both on and off the pitch this spring, with Paddy Carr’s senior footballers facing near-certain top-flight relegation after their latest desperately poor defeat at home to Mayo, leaving them bottom of Division 1 ahead of Sunday’s final outing in Roscommon.