The Fermanagh and Western confirmed yesterday (Wednesday) that they will not be organising any subsidiary competition for this season - as had been planned after the league was declared null and void - while a meeting of the Fermanagh and Western Football Association Management Committee will be called to make a decision on whether or not to go ahead with the Mulhern and Reihill Cups.

The Fermanagh and Western Football League Management Committee made an early call in deciding to null and void their leagues on November 30 with no side having played any more than four league games.

But, at that stage they said that they would look to organise an alternative competition to provide teams with games while there was also the intention to play both the local cup competitions.

However, with lockdown having been extended to March 5, and with a decreasing appetite from clubs to play games, the decision was made by the league not to organise a subsidiary competition.

“The Fermanagh and Western Football League will not be organising any alternative competition for this season and a meeting of the Association Management Committee will be called to decide what we do regarding the Mulhern and Reihill Cups,” said league Chairman, Neil Jardine.

“Everybody realised that it is unlikely that current restrictions would be lifted on March 5, it is more likely to be continued, and from what we are seeing and hearing, there isn’t an appetite to be playing or organising football at the moment, so that’s why the decision was made.”

The Fermanagh and Western were the first junior league to make the call to null and void their season but others are beginning to follow suit. The North West Junior League was halted on January 21 and was followed a day later by the Coleraine District League. And the Newcastle and District Amateur League cancelled their season with immediate effect on Monday night with more sure to follow.

There is a split opinion though on whether to run off the Mulhern and Reihill Cups or not while a decision is expected from the IFA this week on whether the Junior Cup will be played this season.

“We expect to hear something from the IFA this week regarding the Junior Cup and if we know what is happening there we would have full clarity all over and no more second guessing as to what is happening, and then the Association can make a decision based on that,” said Jardine.

“There are two schools of thought on the cups,” he added.

“Some of the views expressed that we should maybe try and play the cups later on because they only take a short time to play off but others feel that there is no point, if you are not playing regular football and then try and play a cup match, will every team want to play if they might only get one game out of it?

Another argument against it is that the Mulhern Cup is too prestigious a competition to be played as an afterthought,” said Jardine.