St. Patrick's Athletic boss Liam Buckley has called for the Airtricity League Premier Division season to be extended.

His comments came after tonight's game between Finn Harps and St. Patrick's Athletic was called off - just 40 minutes before the scheduled 8.00 pm kick-off.

So it was a wasted 300 mile round trip for the Dublin side and leaves both Pat's and Harps with yet another fixture to squeeze in before the season is meant to end on the last weekend of October.

Buckley felt that the Finn Park pitch was "bordering on the unplayable" but he respected the decision of referee Tom Connolly.

He added: "We have got to extend our season out. It's ridiculous to be playing a 36 week programme with over 50 odd games. It's just crazy."

Only a tiny part of the pitch was problematic with the referee basing his decision on player welfare.

However, many officials present, plus a handful of people who had walked the pitch, were of the opinion that it should have gone ahead.

The pitch was soft but it was not waterlogged in any part, and it was windy as the kick-off approached.

Buckley felt it was a pity that decision could not have been made earlier.

However, Harps officials were confident all day that the game would go ahead, and given that there was no surface water on the pitch did not deem it necessary for any preliminary pitch inspection.

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