GAA gives green light for league restart
Counties unable to field will have to forfeit points as officials press ahead with inter-county plan
The GAA is to press ahead as scheduled with the conclusion of the National Football Leagues which gets underway in just eight days’ time.
There has been speculation that the leagues would be pulled at a GAA chairpersons’ meeting – which was held last night – as a measure to protect the championship.
However, there is no intention within the Association’s Management Committee or the Central Competitions Controls Committee to call off the competition at this stage, despite rising cases and the impact it is having on some squads, particularly in Ulster.
Fermanagh have made the case for their game with Clare on Sunday week to be deferred because of a number of Covid-positive cases in their panel, forcing them to quarantine until the day before the game. This would leave it almost impossible to prepare properly for such an important game.
Fermanagh manager Ryan McMenamin has said a league completed without his side would erode the competition’s integrity. But any county that is not in a position to play league games will be forced to forfeit, which follows a similar approach being taken for championship games where time is also at a premium.
There is no immediate threat to minor and U-20 inter-county ties, although challenge games for these grades have been suspended. Third level activity has also been shelved.
The focus of the chairpersons’ meeting was to provide an update on the current suspension of club activity for the next two weeks, at least, because of growing concern and reputational damage to the Association over weakening compliance to guidelines and how that might be pieced together, even as the country remains at Level 3 restrictions.
Under Level 3, senior club games can go ahead but the completion of county finals will take priority with 11 such deciders still outstanding.
One of the measures Management wants to press is the withholding of cups after presentations that follow county finals. Officials feel that while this may not curb celebrations it may limit to some degree parades and congregations which have a cup as a focal point.
The GAA has indicated that the club suspension will be reviewed in two weeks’ time but the prospect of all competitions getting up and running again is remote at the moment.
Carlow GAA has decided to shelve its senior football championship until 2021. The SFC semi-finals will be played on Sunday, January 10, 2021 with the final a week later, provided Government restrictions allow for it.
The intermediate football final between Ballinabranna and KildavinClonegal will be played three weeks after inter-county activity has finished for players involved from both clubs, with the junior final, between St Patrick’s and Tinryland following the same criteria.
Earlier, McMenamin had asked the GAA to postpone their Division 2 clash with Clare on Sunday week “to help ease the minds” of his players. “I think it needs to be a postponement. If they want to go on ahead more or less in the league without us, that will be the integrity of the league gone,” McMenamin told ‘OTB AM’.
“To me, I think the GAA has got to act quickly and postpone it. We can draw a line under it then and tell the boys how we plan going forward.”
“They didn’t contract intentionally. I’ve already got a few messages on WhatsApp from lads who are worrying that this was all because of them. So, you do have to think of their mental health when all of this stuff is being paraded around the country.”
He added: “We’re in no shape to play Clare. I’ve just been told the hotel in Clare cancelled our reservation because of Level 3 restrictions, I thought that was weird. We’re in no shape to play... even long-term if you look at the Ulster Championship.
“We do want to play it but you’re looking at the level of preparation. If you’re only going to have two or three training sessions before the Ulster Championship you kind of have to ask, what sort of games are they going to be?”