GAA championship structures may be revised
THE GAA have admitted that the format of this years' All-Ireland Championships may undergo some changes to its original schedule.
While there are still hopes within the organisation that the championships will be completed as scheduled, the GAA's director of player, club and games administration Feargal McGill conceded any planning for the championships this year will be far from straightforward until further announcements are made by the government.
“The same as any sporting organisation, the key to drawing up a fixtures schedule is knowing exactly how much time we have to play with,” said McGill in an interview with RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland show.
“And, at the moment, unfortunately we just don't know what time is there.
“Until we know that, we can't really make any decisions on tweaking competition structures.
“But the current situation is that there are no changes to any of our championship structures to date. “They're due to start on May 10 which is well outside the April 19 flag that the Government have planted, if you like.”
“So that's still a possibility as a start date. While that's a possibility we can't really look at changing championship structures. But I do have to concede that it seems unlikely we'll be back playing by then.
“The next critical point for us is likely to be on the week of April 19. We've assumed the Government will make some kind of announcement that week. Whether it's that we're going to continue in this restrictive situation or that there may be some light at the end of the tunnel.
“That week we'll be able to start planning. Either to proceed from May 10 or start looking at revised championship structures that would allow us to play the competitions over a tightened period.”
“We would probably do everything in our power to keep the All-Ireland Finals where they are currently scheduled,” said McGill.
“So the Hurling Final is scheduled for August 16 and the Football Final is scheduled for August 30.
“I would imagine that as long as we get back on the playing field or we can start our inter-county championships before the middle of June then we should be able to retain those dates.
“We'd probably have to look at straight knock-out provincial championships in both football and hurling, but, potentially with a back-door as well.”
The Mayo senior footballers are scheduled to face Leitrim in the Connacht Senior Football Championship quarter-final, on Sunday, May 10, in Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada, Carrick-on-Shannon, while the Mayo senior hurlers begin their championship campaign against Warwickshire in the Nicky Rackard Cup.