All U20 Football Fixtures In Offaly Scheduled For Today Postponed

Tuesday, 22 September 2020 13:29

The decision was announced by Offaly County Board this morning.

The U20 football quarter-final in Offaly between Na Fianna and St.Patrick's has been postponed.

St.Patricks are an amalgamation between Edenderry and Ballyfore.

The game was fixed for 8pm this evening in Rhode.

A club source says a senior Edenderry player was confirmed to have covid-19 at the weekend, meaning the entire squad was deemed as casual contacts.

The HSE later re-classified them as 'close contacts' and were sent for tests - they have to quarantine until they receive their results.

Nine players on the senior squad are eligible to play but waiting on test results, leaving Edenderry with only 13 players for tonight's fixture.

In the last hour, another tweet has been put out by Offaly GAA, stating that all games at the age level in the faithful county are postponed this evening.

All Under 20 Football Championship games scheduled for this evening in Offaly are off.
The clubs involved have been notified by the County Board.
— Official Offaly GAA (@Offaly_GAA) September 22, 2020

In a statement to clubs earlier today, Offaly Chairman Michael Duignan said:

"Over the past few months we have all worked hard to get back up and running after our initial Covid lockdown. It’s been fantastic to see all the activity taking place and to see our championships progressing to the latter stages despite many challenges. All clubs, their players, management and many volunteers deserve huge credit for this.

"Unfortunately in the last week or so we have started to see a few Covid cases emerging in our communities which have impacted on participation in some of our games. It’s important to say that none of these cases are linked to GAA activity but have impacted clubs due to players following general Covid and HSE guidelines.

"Offaly GAA are making every effort to complete our games programme in very difficult circumstances and as a result some difficult decisions have had to be made not to defer or postpone a number of games. While this is hugely regrettable and very disappointing for the clubs affected, we feel we have no other choice. It is important to note that we have already lost an additional three weeks due to our localised lockdown so any wiggle room we might have had has disappeared.

"This has been an unprecedented year for us all and we hope you understand that we are trying to complete the Championships in a very challenging environment which is changing almost daily."

Please note the Under 20 Football Championship game - St Patrick's v Na Fianna - fixed for tonight is off.
— Official Offaly GAA (@Offaly_GAA) September 22, 2020