Michael Quinlivan joined Monday's OTB AM to discuss returning to play in the age of Covid-19.

The Tipperary inter-county star played on Saturday as Clonmel Commercials began their defence of the FBD Insurance County Senior Football Championship with an eight point victory over Cahir.

Quinlivan described his experience with the GAA's safety protocols that include not having the use of dressing rooms.

 Under-10 blitz

"It nearly feels more weird than a challenge game because normally you get the use of the dressing rooms," he said.

"I think the last time we left bags on the side of the pitch was probably an under-10 blitz .

"There were a lot of stewards there to make sure that everything ran smoothly.

Arriving too early

The 2016 All-Star said that they arrived a bit later than usual because they didn't want to be hanging around on the sideline.

"You don’t want to arrive too early because otherwise you’re literally going to be sitting on the side of a pitch," he said.

"We probably arrived 40 minutes before it, in normal circumstances, people would be checking their watch and there would be phone calls going out to see where you are." 

Quick football

Once the game started, Quinlivan said the pace of play was quicker than any first round championship game he had experienced in Tipperary.

"It was really good to see football being played at club level in the middle of July when the ground is really fast," he said.

"Some of the quality of the scores on each side were really good. It was a proper battle for the whole game."

Water breaks

Another interesting part of the game was the introduction of water breaks mid-way through each half.

"They were snappy, only a minute, but it does change the way the game is going," Quinlivan said.

"If you have a bit of momentum and you get a couple of scores and then there’s a break in play it can be quite hard to pick it back up again.

"You’re also planning for your first 15 minutes. You get a chance to have a quick chat and regroup. It definitely becomes more a game of four quarters."

Purer form of the game

Quinlivan described this club season as the "most enjoyable" he can remember.

"We were able to do plenty in training, we’ve had huge numbers down because most people are at home," he said. 

"I really enjoyed going down training. The difference between travelling five minutes down the road in Clonmel and then coming from Dublin is probably a factor in that.

"From the football side of things, it's probably a purer form.

"I looked around at most of the scores in the Tipperary championship and scoring was quite high." 

Inter-county

Quinlivan also thinks this trend may continue into the inter-county season as teams will have less time.

"The chance to implement systems to stop teams might not be as feasible in a short space of time so you might find it's a purer form of the game," he said.

However, there is now less certainty as to whether that inter-county season will go ahead as Covid-19 cases are again on the rise.

"I think in the last couple of weeks things haven’t gone as well as we would’ve hoped," Quinlivan said.

"It's difficult to see if we have a second wave how the inter-county season might go ahead.

"But look we live in hope. It's anybody’s guess."

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