Daniel Hughes has described Ulster Council's intransigence as "astonishing".

Referring to the Council's unwillingness to change the throw-in time of Saturday week's Ulster SFC meeting with Armagh, the Down star believes provincial chiefs have shot themselves in the foot by refusing to avoid a clash with the Champions League final.

Speaking to The Irish Examiner, Hughes blasts: "The Ulster Council should definitely have moved the game. I don't understand that. I just can't understand why they did that.

"Why take money off the gate? Why take people away from the game when there's absolutely no need to do it? Why not put it on at 3 o'clock on the Saturday or why not put it on at 5 o'clock even?

"Why not let people go to the game at 5 o'clock and go home or go to the bars then? Economically speaking, from a financial point of view, it just doesn't make sense.

"We're living in the 21st century. I can't understand the thinking behind it. At the end of the day, realistically, FIFA aren't going to move their match so the GAA have to. We're a small organisation; we have to make the most of the population we have so that people will actually go to the game. They're cutting off their nose, they really are.

"You'll have your hardcore supporters but it probably won't be anything more than would go to a national league game. It's astonishing.

"They had no problem conceding when it came to opening up the ground to other major sports. That's the reality. And they were bigger issues - far, far bigger issues - and rightly so, so changing a throw-in time ... I just don't see the big problem." Tweet

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