Four of the Ulster counties who weren't represented at Wednesday's historic visit by Queen Elizabeth to Croke Park have claimed they weren't invited.

Today's Irish Examiner reports that Tyrone, Fermanagh, Derry and Antrim weren't asked to attend. Only Down were believed to have been represented, while it was reported that no officials from Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan turned up either. Armagh have refused to comment on their "no-show" at the event.

Tyrone chairman Ciaran McLaughlin was adamant in his claim his county hadn't been requested to attend.

"I've no comment to make on it, to be honest, quite simply because the counties weren't invited individually in the first place and that's the bottom line," he said.

"There's no point in me saying anything more about it. People can say what they want but I know the facts and that's what I'm sticking with."

Fermanagh secretary Tom Boyle also insisted his board had not been asked to attend.

"The only correspondence we got from Croke Park was the letter in which we were told the only person allowed to comment on the Queen's visit was the Uachtarán," stated Boyle.

"I have had no more correspondence about it since then.

"The information that seems to have gone out seems to imply all county secretaries and chairmen were invited to the event. They were not all invited to the event.

"I can understand why some people weren't invited because of keeping up appearances and all that sort of thing. But there was no formal invitation sent to the Fermanagh secretary or chairman."

Derry secretary Liam Peoples also claimed that his board were instructed not to comment about the occasion.

"We were instructed not to speak about the visit. The only person permitted to was the president but nobody else was given the opportunity to comment.

"I don't know what the protocol was, whether there were some people invited and some people who weren't but I wouldn't be annoyed about it."

Antrim secretary Frankie Quinn, meanwhile, confirmed neither he nor the board received an invitation to be present for the visit.

"No invitation came to me for me personally or the county board," he said. Tweet

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