The GAA's Director of Player, Club and Games Administration Feargal McGill says they're aiming to finish out the 2020 Allianz National Football and Hurling Leagues but a decision has yet to be made.
When the pandemic forced gaelic games to come to a halt in March there were still two rounds of fixtures to be completed in the football as well as the finals in Division Two and Three of the hurling.
“In terms of the Allianz Leagues, we haven’t made any decisions, CCCC haven’t,” McGill said when asked this evening if those games were likely to be played. “We indicated previously that our preference is to finish out the Leagues, particularly in football in terms of round six and seven and in hurling, in terms of finishing Division Two and Three.
“In other words, the games in football and hurling which affect promotion and relegation, but we haven’t made that decision yet. Again, that’ll fall into the CCCC’s overall plan for finishing the season which will come at the end of this month really, once we’ve confirmed we’re taking the next step.
Inter-county teams can resume their training in September and McGill admits that it makes for a short preparation window, but he stressed that it's an extraordinary year:
"There is a cake here that has to be divided among a massive amount of participants. The overwhelming body of participants are club players so I think on any terms if you are given a full month to prepare a team, that’s plenty.
“We would love to be able to give inter-county team managers more, we would love to be able to give the club more. It is just not possible in the constraints.
“I know we had a couple of team doctors in our group. We didn’t just pluck a date out of the air.
"I think it’s practical. I don’t expect managers to be happy, far from it, but that’s a very different thing to whether it is practical or not.”
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