Canavan calls on Croker to consider ‘rapid testing’ of all county panels

“If a team has a case and they have to go quiet for two weeks while people get tested and people get cleared etc, I think they should at least be allowed a week to build back up to a game.

“So, I think it’s possible that you see games being put back by three weeks here and there, and everybody else will have to adapt to it and wait.”

Meanwhile, against the backdrop of soaring case numbers, especially north of the border, Donaghy’s fellow Sky pundit Peter Canavan has urged the GAA to consider “rapid testing” of county panels.

This could include twiceweekly testing if required, similar to that practised by professional sports. “If you are a parent of a lad who is going to be exposed to inter-county football, I think you would want that reassurance,” the Tyrone great said.

Offaly chairman Michael Duignan has admitted it was “a bitter pill to swallow” after his plea to Croke Park for an exemption to complete their hurling club championships this weekend fell on deaf ears. “I know there is quite a bit of expense involved in that but that should be available to all county squads. And there should be temperature checks going into training.”

The GAA suspended all club games on Monday citing after-match celebrations and congregations as the chief reason, much to the annoyance of clubs still involved. Duignan (pictured) made contact with Croke Park on Tuesday in a desperate bid to have their championships completed

– including the Offaly SHC final meeting of Kilcormac/Killoughey and St Rynagh’s – behind closed doors but their efforts failed.

“After everything, and the second (local) lockdown, we wanted one more week. We had three hurling finals planned for next weekend. Really, at the end of the day, players are the most important,” Duignan told OurGame.ie.

“Sometimes we lose focus in the GAA because there’s so much else going on but it’s about providing games for players. To do all we’ve done and for all the work they’ve put in, to lose all that at short notice was a bitter pill to swallow.”

The Club Players Association (CPA) made a similar appeal to have championships completed but Duignan knows the boisterous scenes in some parts did not aid their cause.

“There have been a few breaches here and there, there’s no point saying anything else,” he said. “We would feel particularly in our own county that we have tried to do everything. For the players, for it to be taken away . . . we’re very disappointed.”