GAA optimistic fans will attend games in 2020

THERE are firm hopes within the GAA that matches will take place before spectators this year.

The guidelines issued on the return of Gaelic games on Friday brought the most convincing evidence that the sporting year is not done yet.

And while it had been expected that if inter-county matches were to be played at all, they would have to be behind closed doors, there is a growing feeling within the association that this will not be the case.

The effort to suppress Covid-19 within the community is succeeding, and the ban on mass gatherings exceeding 5,000 runs to the end of August.

The Championships are not due to start before October 17, but it is accepted that the threat from the virus could have changed come the autumn.

However, the GAA director general Tom Ryan made clear on Friday night that playing matches without fans did not appeal to the association.

GAA president John Horan said that if crowds are allowed, they will not be in traditional numbers.

‘It would be our hope to have attendances at games,’ he said on Friday.

‘It may mean we use restricted venues for the inter-county Championships. It’s something we’re conscious of and we see it as desirable to have crowds at a game. Obviously, I don’t think they’ll ever be at the number or level they were at. They will be restricted, but that restriction will take into account all the health measures and guidance we’re given.’

Meanwhile, the reframed season has prompted Turlough O’Connor to bring forward his decision to step down as Carlow football manager after six years. In 2018 O’Connor presided over the county’s promotion out of Division Four for the first time in 33 years and a Leinster Championship win over Kildare for the first time in 65 years.