Former Dublin footballer Mick O’Keefe and sports psychologist, medical student and sports journalist Maire Treasa Ni Cheallaigh talked about COVID-19 and the GAA on the Sunday Paper Review on Off The Ball.

With the island being split into two jurisdictions, the policing of attendance at matches can be difficult for managing bodies such as the GAA which governs over teams in both jurisdictions.

“I do think one of the worries is Ulster, because of the two different jurisdictions on the island,” said Ni Cheallaigh.

“If we had the rates in the 26 counties that they have in the six counties at the moment then we’d have over a thousand cases a day.”

She pointed out the differences that she has seen on each side of the border.

“I am living quite near the border at the moment and I haven’t actually gone over the border in the last few weeks,” Ni Cheallaigh said.

“I have continued to be flabbergasted and surprised by the laxity of public health respect on the northern side of the border.

“I still cannot believe that I can walk into a shop in a town like Clady, Crossmaglen or somewhere in Newry and nobody is wearing masks.

“I went into one furniture shop actually and the man running the shop asked me to take my mask off so that he could see what I looked like.

“I just cannot fathom that happening in the 26 counties.”

Two sets of guidelines for one GAA championship?

Both Ni Cheallaigh and O’Keefe suggested that it will become difficult for the GAA to abide by two different sets of government guidelines.

“I think this is where the GAA are going to get unstuck, through no fault of their own,” Ni Cheallaigh said.

28 May 2011; A general view of the grounds as a sideline flag flutters in the wind. Ulster GAA Football Senior Championship Quarter-Final, Armagh v Down, Morgan Athletic Grounds, Armagh. Picture credit: Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE

“I think the GAA are going to have to provide GAA guidelines,” O’Keefe said.

“There is confusion around the amount of people at matches, and I think for football in particular, we’ve got so many competitive counties in the north I think it is an issue for the [them].

“They do need to be clear with the guidelines for GAA people and the clubs and the teams that are training.

“There are mixed messages and I think there is an imbalance between the north and the south in terms of how people are treating this virus.”

O’Keefe went as far as to say that the GAA need to take account themselves to set their own guidelines for all counties on the island, regardless of their jurisdiction.

“I think the GAA have been very reluctant to… they’ve tended to say ‘we’ll abide by the local authority public health guidelines’,” O’Keefe said.

“I do think it has come to a point now where this is really serious and we want to have a GAA championship and we want people to be safe.

“The GAA have done a lot of work on this and they have a lot of public health experts with them and I think they should say ‘this is what we recommend and here are the guidelines’.

“We can’t force people to behave a certain way.

“In terms of how the teams prep and train and all that kind of stuff I think the GAA should take a lead on its own.”

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