Cuchulainn Gaels clarify events surrounding COVID-19 case

CUCHULAINN Gaels officials have moved to clarify the course of events behind a recent COVID-19 case in the club, which led to the abandonment of their Division 3B League clash with John Mitchel’s last Sunday week.

The Omeath outfit feel there is perception out there that they somehow engineered the situation to their own advantage, although with no promotion or relegation applying to the leagues they didn’t have much to gain from the game being abandoned.

It was also suggested that the game could have proceeded because the individual in question was already isolating, and was not a close contact of the players on duty, however, the club have strongly refuted that claim and insist that the referee was 100 per cent right to call a halt to the game during the first-half water break.

Chairman, Roddy McQuaid explained the events before and after the positive COVID-19 case was discovered, stating:

‘The player who tested positive was a close contact of a close contact and in fact only got tested as his mother is vulnerable, and so wanted to be sure for his mother’s sake. The close contact of our playet went for a test on the Tuesday prior to the game but our player did not have to take any action until that person’s result was known.

‘He went to training on the Tuesday night and when he heard about his friend being a close contact he went for a test himself on the Thursday - again it must be stated that he was only a close contact of a close contact and went for the test for his own peace of mind.

‘Our player did not go to training on Friday night as he had not received his result despite the fact that he was only close contact of a close contact. He took all these decisions himself rather rely upon HSE guidelines, which stipulate that he would have been perfectly entitled to go training.

‘AS it turned out his close contact returned a negative result, but his own result still had not come back by Sunday morning. Taking into account all of the above information, the club decided to let the County Board COVID Officer know what was happening i.e. that he had been tested but no result was returned by 9.30am on Sunday.

‘We also wanted to make it known that if his test did come back positive, that he gave three other players a lift to training on Tuesday night and they would subsequently become close contacts and so would have to self isolate.

‘We were told that the game had to go ahead and our lads set out to the match - but it’s important to note that the player in question did not travel as he was still waiting on his result at home.

‘To be fair to the opposition, we informed them, and the referee, about the situation when we arrived at the grounds.

‘The throw-in of our match was at 2pm and at 2.15pm our player got his email from the HSE and it confirmed he was a positive case.

‘This then meant the three lads that travelled with him to training became close contacts as it was inside the 48 hour guideline i.e. contacts from

within 48 hours of going for the test are deemed close contacts and so must isolate and go for a test also. All of the other players he trained with were just casual contacts.

‘The referee was informed of the positive result as soon as our manager got the call and we believe he took the correct decision in calling the game off.

‘As a club we want to clarify the course of events as even still some people think we did something underhand or that we were just trying to get the match put off to a later date.

‘We cannot take chances with

COVID-19. It is very serious, especially for players who have to work to make a living, as self isolating for 14 days is a great hardship. ‘

Mr McQuaid said he hoped clubs could learn from the Gaesls’ experience, as the guidelines need to be followed at all times.

He added: ‘In better news our player is doing well and has no symptoms. The three close contacts have all returned negative results, but are still isolating until the 14 day time frame passes which is this Tuesday evening.’