As with
other sports, the
COVID-19 pandemic caused disruption to
Gaelic games, primarily in
Ireland but also
elsewhere in the world. Competitions were cancelled, postponed or restructured, while some teams were withdrawn or were unable to participate in those competitions that went ahead.
13 March – Ireland's
Minister for HealthSimon Harris said people returning from Spain or Italy would have to "not quite self-isolate" but "restrict their movements" upon returning to Ireland; this affected the
Tipperary county hurling team, the reigning
All-Ireland Champions, who had flown in advance to the
Costa Blanca in Spain for a training camp.[6] Tim Floyd, Secretary of the Tipperary County Board, also contracted the virus but recovered.[7]
Four-time All-Ireland football winning manager
Seán Boylan also contracted COVID-19 at around this time and was in hospital until 31 March, according to an interview he gave on
RTÉ Radio the following January.[10]
18 March – the GAA confirmed that its Féile na Gael 2020
hurling and
camogie event (jointly to have been hosted by
Dublin,
Kildare and
Meath in early June), Féile na nÓg National football tournaments (jointly to have been hosted by
Donegal,
Derry, and
Tyrone in late June), the Celtic Challenge under-17 hurling development competition and every event intended to have involved academy squads, would be cancelled in 2020 as a result of the damage done by the virus to its other competitions.[11]
30 March – the Irish Independent reported that Ard Stiúrthóir Tom Ryan had told employees through a
conference call that their wages would be reduced by between 10 and 20% for the month of April; the GAA confirmed the following day that the report was accurate.[12]
Other GAA figures reported to have been infected by the virus around this time included Club Aontroma Chairman Niall Murphy (who narrowly survived) and Ulster Camogie Chairman Jennifer Cultra.[14][15][16]
29 April – the administrator
Noel Walsh (i.e. "Mr Clare Football")[17] died of
pneumonia resulting from COVID-19.[18]
13 April – the All-Ireland winning hurler
Jonathan Glynn announced that himself and his
fiancée had tested positive for COVID-19 in the United States, where he was working as a coach with the
New York team, but both had isolated for two weeks and recovered.[19]
17 April – a remote
Special Congress occurred, the outcome of which granted the GAA emergency powers to change competition structures to respond to the pandemic (such rule changes would normally be decided at an Annual Congress).[24]
30 April – the GAA confirmed wage cuts for staff would continue into May and June.[25]
6 May – the GAA announced that it expected no inter-county matches would take place until October at the earliest and asked all counties to cease preparations until 20 July, while unveiling a COVID-19 Advisory Group whose members included
Pat O'Neill.[26]
11 May – that night, the COVID-19 Advisory Group had its first meeting (online).[27]
Antrim football captain
Declan Lynch told a newspaper in late May that he had experienced a mild form of COVID-19, from which the
BBC said he had recovered by June.[28]
June–September
5 June – the GAA's COVID-19 Advisory Group unveiled details of a four-phase "Return to Play" roadmap.[29]
12 June – the various sporting organisations unveiled details of a COVID-19 education programme for clubs.[30] As part of this a "COVID supervisor" would monitor every team at each club.[31]
26 June – that morning, the GAA announced that all inter-county competitions would commence in October 2020, with the football championship to feature a knock-out format for the first time since
2000, while the hurling championship reverted to an open draw (made later that evening) and retained the possibility of a second chance for losing teams. The GAA opted not to reschedule the
New York Connacht championship game and postponed its proposed new
Tailteann Cup competition until 2021.[32]
9 July – that night, the GAA's management committee updated match regulations ahead of the resumption of club games, restricting the number of substitutes and officials and introducing water breaks (one in each half).[33]
By late July, small numbers of spectators were permitted into games on both sides of
the border.[34]
23 August –
Wexford GAA club
Shelmaliers defeated
Naomh Éanna to win the first County Championship to be completed since the discovery of COVID-19.[35]
12 September
The GAA announced that the emergency administrative powers agreed in April had been extended until 4 December.[36]
London withdrew from playing in the remaining league and championship fixtures.[citation needed]
19 September –
Donegal GAA announced that one of its county footballers had tested positive for an
asymptomatic case of COVID-19.[37] The players were tested just before the squad began training for the resumption of inter-county play, with one positive result returned.[38] The rest of the squad entered isolation.[39] Among those to praise the decision to make public the result was Monaghan player
Darren Hughes.[40] Two months later,
Conor Morrison spoke of receiving a COVID-19 test in advance of surgery on a long-term leg injury in
Santry on a Monday morning in September, with a positive result received that night (matching descriptions in reports at that time, he was also asymptomatic); Morrison, however, said he had not been in contact with other members of the county team (the injury having occurred during a game for his club
St Eunan's the previous month) but his surgery had to be postponed until October and he had had to isolate.[41]
The
PSNI launched an investigation after receiving reports of inadequate
social distancing between spectators at the
Derry Senior Football Championship final, held on 4 October after being moved to an alternative ground due to a rise in COVID-19 cases close to the original venue.[45]Cork GAA also addressed an absence of social distancing on streets in South Cork after
Blackrock won the Senior Hurling Championship for the first time since 2002.[46]
The GAA, in a decision endorsed by the
Ladies' Gaelic Football Association (LGFA), suspended all club fixtures with immediate effect on 5 October, stating: "In particular, post-match celebrations and a lack of social distancing at certain events have proved disappointing and problematic. This directive applies to all ages and all grades across the island".[47] Later that day, the
Government of Ireland excluded spectators from all games under new restrictions that applied those then in effect in
Dublin and
Donegal to the rest of the country (this did not affect counties north of
the border where limited numbers were still permitted to attend).[48] Any remaining club fixtures were postponed until the respective county's inter-county season had finished.[49]
7 October – the
Fermanagh county football team suspended training after several COVID-19 positive tests within the squad, and the decision was also taken to suspend the activity of the county hurlers and minor footballers, as well as the training of club players which was still permitted following the GAA directive of two days previously.[50]
15 October –
Wexford GAA confirmed four of its senior footballers and two of its senior hurlers had tested positive for COVID-19.[51]
17 October – league and championship resumed (see
that section for further details).
24 October – In an article published in the Irish Examiner on this date, Clare footballer
David Tubridy confirmed that he and his father
Tommy had recently tested positive for COVID-19.[52]
3 November –
Sligo withdraw from the Connacht championship.
15 November – in his Sunday Independent column published on this date,
Colm O'Rourke wrote that the former Cork player and manager
Billy Morgan had recently been seriously ill after contracting COVID-19.[53]
1 January – the GAA gave advice on which activities were permitted under the restrictions which had been imposed following increased COVID-19 transmission over the
Christmas period, i.e. individual training but no collective training, no club games and no access to club grounds.[57]
5 January – GAA director general (Ard Stiúrthóir) Tom Ryan issued a letter to county secretaries barring county teams from collective training for at least the rest of the month and also stating that club and county gyms should be shut until further notice.[58] Collective training had originally been scheduled to resume on 15 January.[59] However,
Ronan McCarthy's
Cork county football team were filmed earlier that month training on a beach in
Youghal, "crawling on their elbows and lumping logs above their heads", as described in The Irish Times.[60] McCarthy was later given a twelve-week ban and Cork lost a home league fixture, while
Down county football team manager
Paddy Tally and his team received the same punishment for a similar breach of the collective training ban.[61] Tally's ban was reduced to eight weeks on appeal, effective immediately and meaning it would expire on 5 April before any games were expected to occur.[62] Tally later explained that this was the first such session, intended to introduce new players to the team's running programme, and that managers of other teams had been asking about the possibility of challenge matches.[63] McCarthy also appealed his twelve-week ban but was unsuccessful.[64] He then appealed it again in March and was also unsuccessful.[65] He appealed it in April too and, again, was unsuccessful.[66]
22 January – the GAA denied reports it intended go ahead with intentions to redevelop the Cusack Stand at
Croke Park, citing the pandemic as the cause.[67]
Following a meeting the previous evening, the GAA further delayed its decision on when to allow county teams to resume collective training.[69]
10 February – the GAA announced that there would be no county team activity (i.e. training or games) until
Easter Day (4 April) at the earliest.[70]
16 February – the GAA announced a record loss of €34.1 million for the financial year ending 31 October 2020, contrasting with 2019 profits of €8 million, with half of its 2020 funding being provided by government.[71]
12 March – one year since the GAA first suspended its activities due to the pandemic.[75]
Weekend of 18/19 March – a Central Council meeting approved a GAA management committee decision to extend its special emergency powers until 21 May and the GAA cancelled its customary membership deadline of 31 March for the year 2021 due to the pandemic.[76]
22 March – that evening, a 5 pm meeting of the GAA's COVID-19 Advisory Group endorsed a request by
Ulster GAA officials for young and adult players north of
the border to return to training from 12 April as would be permitted for sports there.[77] The GAA later clarified that county teams would not be permitted to train collectively there, only clubs.[78]
26 March – the Irish Examiner published the results of a
Freedom of Information request which revealed that Government informed the GAA on 24 December that senior inter-county games were permitted but then brought forth legislation taking away the "Level 5 exempted sports" entitlement of senior inter-county games on 31 December, a decision which the
National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) had no part in. The GAA was not informed of this decision and only discovered it when its then president
John Horan asked
Jack Chambers during a video conference call on 8 February. The timing of the 24 December assurance also appeared to contradict public comments by Chambers that the senior inter-county game exemption expired after the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, which had by then taken place.[79]
April
Disciplinary record of suspensions given to team officials
Breach of Level 5 Government restrictions---- Breach of GAA's collective training ban
Monaghan County Board
1 April – the Irish Independent published photographs of a coach-led group of
Dublin county football team members, including
All Stars Footballer of the YearBrian Fenton, whom it reported had gathered at
Innisfails GAA club before 7 am on the previous morning. The session occurred around 12 hours after the GAA sent a note to each club and county, warning that any club or county team ignoring the collective training ban could risk putting the GAA's intentions to return to action "in serious jeopardy".[80] The GAA immediately appealed to other counties not to behave as the Dublin football team had, i.e. breaking a GAA rule but, more seriously, breaching the Government's Level 5 restrictions then in place to counter the public health crisis.[81] Apart from minister
Jack Chambers, other politicians to criticise the transgression included
Alan Dillon,[82] the MEP (and former GAA president)
Seán Kelly[83] and former
TaoiseachEnda Kenny.[84] Former Meath football manager
Seán Boylan, who had been seriously ill with COVID-19 the previous year, also said he "baffled and shocked".[85] The date of the publication (
April Fools' Day) and the seriousness of the transgression in contrast to the Dublin team's previous reputation led to much confusion about whether it could really have occurred.[84][86] However, that evening, after investigating the accuracy of the report,
Dublin GAA suspended its own football team manager
Dessie Farrell for 12 weeks with immediate effect, matching the earlier ban that the GAA had issued to Cork football team manager
Ronan McCarthy, with the GAA earlier announcing an investigation that would lead to further possible punishment. Irish Independent journalist Colm Keys noted that Dublin's transgression "has happened against the backdrop of public health advice. Such a scenario wasn't clear back in early January [the time of the McCarthy incident] when it wasn't clear that GAA teams had lost that elite status. The assumption was still there that an elite group could train".[87]
4 April – former Dublin
camogie team manager Frank Browne called for
Dessie Farrell's resignation as
Dublin county football team manager for the "arrogance" of his team's behaviour, adding: "I think it's a cop out to say they're amateur players. We're all amateur players involved in the GAA, we all know right from wrong and it was wrong".[88]
6 April – the GAA warned in its April newsletter against any further collective training ban breaches by teams, stating that the transgression of the Dublin footballers and public attention the incident had received in recent days had "brought the spotlight on our Association".[89]
Monaghan GAA suspended
Séamus McEnaney for 12 weeks after the team manager admitted involvement in breaching the Level 5 restrictions and said it would comply with a GAA investigation into the incident.[94]
Minister
Jack Chambers told RTÉ: "My officials from the Department of Sport have been in touch with the GAA to reemphasise that all breaches undermine the broader public health messaging".
Tomás Ó Sé said on
RTÉ Radio 1: "The big difference between Cork and Down earlier in the season compared to Dublin and Monaghan is that the Dublin and Monaghan issues happened on GAA grounds". Former GAA president
Seán Kelly said: "It's terrible to see it happening, officially organised, in a GAA club, by a county team... Saying you can't start training until two or three weeks after other counties would be a good place to start" as an additional punishment, he said.[95]
GAA president
Larry McCarthy said the GAA's reputation had been damaged by the recent breaches of Level 5 restrictions.[96]
The GAA released its revised fixtures calendar. The leagues were set to begin on 8 May. The football championship was scheduled as a straight knockout for a second consecutive year, London and New York's participation in the Connacht Senior Football Championship again deemed impossible.[97]
12 April – clubs north of
the border were permitted to resume collective training, which had been banned since the previous October.[98]
13 April
It was announced that the draws for the championship would occur on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 April.[99] They did.[100]
Cork,
Down and
Dublin were given no home National Football League games as punishment for their training misbehaviours.[101]
16 April – the GAA revealed renewed guidelines ahead of the return to collective training for county teams, scheduled for the following week.[102]
19 April – squads involved in inter-county competition were officially allowed to train collectively for the first time in four months.[103]
26 April – the reopening of pitches and permission for young players to train with their clubs.[104]
May–December
4 May – Minister
Jack Chambers confirmed that non-playing members of county team panels would be permitted to be present at games in the upcoming National Leagues.[105]
25 May – the GAA announced that an attendance of 500 would be let in to National League fixtures north of
the border from the following weekend, the first allowance of spectators at inter-county matches since 8 March 2020.[106]
21 June – the first pilot test fixture at Croke Park occurred, a league game between
Derry and
Offaly.[107]
31 December – the
2022 McGrath Cup opening game between
Clare and
Waterford was postponed, with Waterford unable to field a team due to COVID-19 cases and contacts.[110]
In 2025
London and
New York Connacht Quarter finals of 2020 between
Roscommon vs
London and
Galway vs
New York will be rescheduled. Arragnments for the extra 5 year wait for those rotation fixtures will be published when 2024 Championship is over.
While in 2026 cancelled Connacht championship games in 2021 between
Mayo vs
London and
Roscommon vs
New York will be expected to finally take place.
Impact on competitions
Club
Status of incomplete 2020 Senior Football & Hurling Championships
On 26 June, the GAA announced its decision to cancel the 2020 Provincial and All-Ireland Club Championships, which had taken place annually since 1971, due to the need to "build in a rest period for people".[119]
On 4 July, shortly after clubs resumed contact training,
Kilkenny GAA club
James Stephens announced it had ceased all activity for one week after one of its hurlers tested positive for COVID-19; he had by then recovered.[120][121]
In mid-July, three GAA clubs in
West Cork (
Argideen Rangers,
Ballinascarthy and
Oliver Plunketts) suspended their activities due to uncertainty whether its members had had contact with someone found to have COVID-19.[121] The Agrideen Rangers chairman later informed
RTÉ Sport that each of the club's players had subsequently tested negative.[122]
On 12 July, a member of
Dublin GAA club
Man-O-War tested positive for COVID-19 and
Cork GAA club
Glanworth confirmed that a player had tested positive; both clubs suspended activities.[122]
On 14 July,
Down GAA club
Atticall became the first GAA club based in
Ulster to confirm a member had tested positive for COVID-19; the club suspended activities until 19 July at the earliest even though the GAA said it could continue.[123] On 16 July, two
Derry GAA clubs (
Banagher and
Craigbane) suspended all activities as a precautionary measure; they were joined by eight others (
Ardmore,
Claudy,
Drum,
Drumsurn,
Foreglen,
Glack,
Limavady and
Magilligan) the following day after a cluster of COVID-19 emerged in the Limavady area, in the north of the county.[124] The nearby
Donegal GAA club Naomh Colmcille followed suit on 18 July, having played Glack in a challenge match the previous weekend.[125] Donegal GAA later clarified that it had not asked Naomh Colmcille to suspend activities, though it respected the club's decision.[126]
On 21 July, two
Tyrone GAA clubs (
Aghaloo O'Neills and
Eglish St Patrick's) suspended their activities after an Eglish player, who had played in a league game between the clubs the previous weekend, tested positive for COVID-19; the entire Eglish squad then required testing to determine the presence or absence of the virus.[127] Eglish's other players were permitted to resume activities on 24 July.[128]
On 23 July,
Armagh GAA club
Killeavy and Down GAA club
Longstone suspended activities with one player from each club having tested positive for COVID-19.[34] By 24 July, four other Killeavy players had tested positive for COVID-19.[129]
On 28 July, Donegal GAA club
Naomh Conaill suspended activities while it awaited the outcome of a test result.[130]
On 18 August,
Sligo GAA club
Eastern Harps suspended activities as a precaution due to possible contact with a COVID-19 case.[131]
By the first anniversary (12 March 2021) of the GAA's first suspension of activities, club players had been permitted to play for only around three of the previous twelve months.[75]
In May 2021,
Wexford GAA clubs
Shelmaliers and
Faythe Harriers suspended all club activity due to the possibility of infection with COVID-19, with the
St Martin's club later doing likewise after one of their players tested positive for COVID-19.[142]
Teams in the top flight of the 2021 NFL as demonstrating part of the plan to divide the league in a bid to limit COVID contagion. Red: North section; Green: South section.
2020 league and championship
The pandemic's arrival coincided with the playing of the National Leagues. Play was suspended from 12 March 2020. Ahead lay the 133rd All-Ireland Championships in football and hurling, annual competitions with an unbroken run stretching back to 1887. Though often delayed due to such incidents as outbreaks of
polio and
foot-and-mouth disease, the All-Ireland Championships had never previously been cancelled, even during the two World Wars. Following an interview given by GAA president
John Horan on The Sunday Game on 10 May, RTÉ described "the prospect of a fallow GAA year" as "very possible".[143]
On 12 September, the GAA announced it would formally go ahead with the year's All-Ireland Football and Hurling Championships at senior, under-20 and minor levels from October after receiving a promise of government funding to help stage the events.[36]Ulster GAA confirmed ahead of the
2020 Ulster Senior Football Championship that the final would not be held at its traditional venue of
St Tiernach's Park due to the absence of floodlights.[144] The
Athletic Grounds in
Armagh was chosen instead.[145]
On 25 September, the GAA announced details of its rescheduled remaining fixtures in the
National Football League and
National Hurling League, to resume on the weekend of 17–18 October.[146] Ahead of the resumption, the GAA denied suggestions it would cancel the competitions, though it had cancelled the League finals.[147] Donegal's footballers travelled the round-trip of 900 kilometres to
Tralee in their own cars to play Kerry, a feat described in the Irish Independent as the "most eye-catching example of GAA expeditions in the Covid era".[148] 17 Fermanagh footballers were out for the resumption, ten COVID-19 positive and seven others self-isolating.[149] One of those who tested positive,
Aidan Breen, spoke publicly about his experience as Fermanagh unsuccessfully attempted to have their first league game postponed.[150] With a "number of players... awaiting test results", Leitrim were unable to field a football team and conceded their opening fixture to Down, the first team forced to do so.[151] On 13 October, the
Moycullen club withdrew its panel members on the
Galway county football team after a COVID-19 outbreak there shortly after that club won its first
Galway Senior Football Championship.[152] On 20 October,
Longford GAA conceded their next football fixture, away to Cork, their manager
Padraic Davis calling it a "dead rubber" (as Cork had previously secured promotion to Division 2) and both teams were scheduled to begin their championship campaigns the following weekend.[153] Longford's concession meant they surrendered an outside possibility of promotion and instead caused the promotion of Down.[154] Down's promotion was also assisted by the points secured following Leitrim's concession of their previous fixture.[155] On 21 October, it was reported that a Roscommon footballer had tested COVID-19 positive.[156] The team vowed to fulfil their fixture against Cavan, however.[157] On 22 October,
Waterford GAA indicated it would concede its football fixture against Antrim due to the deteriorating health crisis north of
the border.[158] Antrim suggested it instead concede home advantage and play the fixture in
Dundalk, an offer which Waterford accepted.[159]
Also on 22 October, the entire
Offaly county hurling team were ruled as close contacts of a COVID-19 positive player they had trained alongside, forcing the county to concede that weekend's
2020 Christy Ring Cup game against Kildare.[160] On 23 October,
Sligo GAA announced that a player on the
Sligo county hurling team had tested COVID-19 positive, meaning the team could not play Derry in the Christy Ring Cup that weekend.[161]
On 8 November,
Mark Keane of
Collingwood Football Club (one of several players whose return to Ireland during the close of the
Australian rules football season coincided with the delayed All-Ireland and provincial competitions) was brought on as a substitute for
Cork against
Kerry in the
2020 Munster Senior Football Championship. He scored the late goal that knocked Kerry out of the competition, in what was described as "one of the biggest upsets in recent championship history... a strike so late it had eerie echoes of
Tadhg Murphy's 1983 goal at the same end of the ground that similarly put Kerry out of the championship".[163] On 22 November,
Colin O'Riordan (another of those who had returned to Ireland during the close of the Australian rules football season) played for
Tipperary against Cork in the
2020 Munster Senior Football Championship Final, winning a senior provincial medal in his first game for his county in five years.[164]Sydney Swans also gave O'Riordan permission to play in the All-Ireland semi-final against
Mayo.[165] Three members of the Mayo backroom team were each suspended for three months after attending the
2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final "without accreditation".[166][167]
Both the
Sam Maguire Cup and the
Liam MacCarthy Cup, the premier football and hurling trophies, were withheld from 2020's winning teams to discourage crowds gathering and no homecoming celebrations were permitted.[168]
The
2021 National Football League was regionalised to facilitate limited travel, with (for instance)
Division 1 North consisting of Donegal, Tyrone, Monaghan and Armagh.[172] This plan had been hinted at as early as September 2020.[173] However, all games were indefinitely delayed due to the deteriorating health crisis south of
the border in early 2021.
It was decided in December 2020 that
New York would return to the
Connacht Senior Football Championship in 2022, rather than 2021, and decided on
London's delayed return on 8 April 2021. In 2022
Sligo hosted
New York,
Leitrim hosted
London the opposite way in 2023. The 2019 fixtures will be repeated in 2024. While in 2025 games cancelled in 2020 will be rescheduled, meaning for the first time since 2015 they will take place. In 2026 London and New York games will be the first fixtures between teams last played in 2016.
On the 19 and 20 April 2021 the draws for 2021 championships took place all fresh. Instead of usual October or November draws over the years.
On 19 May,
Wexford GAA's chairman told
South East Radio that two members of the
Wexford county hurling team, who had played in the league win over
Clare at
Cusack Park a few days earlier, had separately tested positive for COVID-19. This came ahead of the scheduled league fixture against
Kilkenny that weekend, with betting suspended in some cases due to uncertainty over whether the game would occur and all the other Wexford hurlers being tested for COVID-19.[142][174] The Kilkenny game was postponed on 22 May after a third Wexford hurler tested positive for COVID-19 on 21 May, with public health advice referring to the possibility of the virus circulating among the other players.[175] The game was later rescheduled.[176] There were then doubts over the rescheduled fixture when a Kilkenny hurler tested positive for COVID-19 but the game went ahead.[177] Two of the Clare hurlers became involved in the original Wexford incident when identified as
close contacts of the first two Wexford hurlers who had contracted COVID-19, leading to them being deemed ineligible for the team's next league match away to
Laois at
O'Moore Park.[178] As a result a dispute arose between Wexford GAA and the Clare hurling manager,
Brian Lohan.[179] Clare GAA supported their manager.[180] On 27 May, Wexford GAA confirmed that none of its other players had since tested positive for COVID-19 and that training would recommence.[181]
On 30 May, immediately after a four-point loss to
Dublin in the last round of the
2021 National Football League in
Tuam resulted in
Galway having to contest a relegation play-off to stay in Division 1, Galway manager
Pádraic Joyce expressed his annoyance upon learning that their opponent
Monaghan would receive home advantage. "I'm just after being told it is away because they had no home games and we had two home games — so they are being rewarded for breaking a curfew and I find that unbelievable", Joyce said, in reference to the
Séamus McEnaney-sanctioned COVID-19 breach which both the
Minister for JusticeHelen McEntee and the
Garda Síochána had been alerted to the previous month. He added: "It's a joke, if you ask me, and I don't know how Croke Park came up with that solution to play in Monaghan... I think it disrespects the whole system and the whole Allianz League if you are going rewarding a county to get a home vital game when you broke the rules".[182] Monaghan won by a single point (scored in the 94th minute of the game) and Galway were relegated.[183]
In July, meetings were held to move both the Connacht SFC Final from
Castlebar and the Ulster SFC Final from
Clones to
Croke Park.
College
The
2020 Sigerson Cup and
2020 Fitzgibbon Cup were both played to completion, two of the few competitions unaffected that year as they had been played in January and February.[184]
On 13 January 2021, the GAA confirmed that the year's Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cups had been cancelled due to pandemic restrictions.[185]
The pandemic also affected the 2020–21 season, with (for instance) no schools or college games occurring during November 2020.[53]
14 January 2021 brought confirmation that the
Hogan Cup and the
Dr Croke Cup would not be played for in 2021, though the possibility of competitions at provincial level was retained.[188]
The morning of 25 February 2021 brought confirmation that Munster post-primary school competitions would not occur in 2021.[189] Later that day, the other three provinces followed suit.[190]
International
The UK government did not permit
London GAA clubs to resume contact training until the evening of 25 August.[191]
London, Warwickshire and Lancashire were excluded from the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football and Hurling Championships.[36] They were also excluded from the 2021 All-Ireland Senior Football and Hurling Championships.[citation needed]
Irish players based in the
Australian Football League (AFL), including
Conor McKenna, returned home following the suspension of play there.[192] In addition, the AFL announced on 5 April that they would not be travelling to Ireland for the planned
International Rules Series in November 2020 due to the disruption that the virus had caused to their season.[193]
Conor McKenna returned to Melbourne when the
2020 AFL season resumed. On 20 June, McKenna became the sport's first COVID-19 case when he returned a low-level positive result. After a particularly negative reaction from the local media,[194][195] and a failure to replicate the initial result,[196] McKenna returned home and resumed his football career with
Tyrone.[197] He made an immediate impact on his debut against
Donegal and in his second game scored two goals that helped relegate
Mayo, in what was that county's first time to be knocked out of the top flight in 23 years.[198][199]
By May 2020, Gaelic games administrators in France (where most players—particularly in
Brittany—are French natives and the French language is common) had concluded that, with the stricter lockdown in force there and the government's announcement that mass gatherings would not be permitted before September, their 2020 championship could not occur. The French finals had been scheduled for
Bordeaux.[201]
After the disruption of early 2021, clubs in England resumed full contact training in late March 2021 but clubs in Scotland and Wales had not joined them by then.[202]
^Fogarty, John (8 May 2020).
"'There's a lot more risk with 2,000 players than 200 players'".
Irish Examiner. Retrieved 19 May 2020. The sheer numbers involved in resuming Gaelic games activity from July 20 with club fixtures as opposed to inter-county matches concern Floyd, who himself overcame coronavirus in recent weeks.
^"'The terror, the fear. It was uncanny, it was unreal'". Hogan Stand. 17 January 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2021. Duffy, Emma (17 January 2021).
"'The terror, the fear — it was uncanny. I was never as afraid of anything in my life'".
The42.ie. Retrieved 17 January 2021. Boylan, who managed his native Royal county to four All-Ireland titles in a remarkable 23-year tenure, told RTÉ's Sunday Sport how he was 'just terrified' as the virus hit him 'like a bolt' last March. 'It's such a dangerous thing', the 77-year-old said. 'I'm speaking as somebody who went for a vaccination for pneumonia and the flu. Some six days later, I wasn't feeling well. It turned out that I had Covid'."'The terror, the fear, was unreal. I lost ten kilos in six days' – Sean Boylan opens up on Covid battle".
Irish Independent. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021. Speaking to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio One, Boylan revealed that although he has now made a full recovery, it was a long and scary process. 'I ended up in hospital and was discharged from hospital on March 31st', he said."Seán Boylan: There are positive signs in Meath football".
RTÉ Sport. 17 January 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2021. A routine trip for a flu vaccination ended with Boylan eventually being taken to hospital. He would go on to test positive for Covid-19, and he says it took him six weeks to get back to feeling normal... 'I was never healthier, fit as a fiddle. I lost 10 kilos in six days. the[sic] people in Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown couldn't have been nicer to me'.
^"Casement Park redevelopment is an 'equality issue' – Niall Murphy".
RTÉ Sport. 10 May 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020. Murphy has been in the headlines himself of late after a lengthy battle against Covid-19 which left him in a coma and fighting for his life. The 43-year-old spent four weeks in hospital and after eventually coming out of a 16-day long coma and recovering, was told that it was 50–50 at the time whether he would make it or not.
^O'Rourke, Colm (3 April 2021).
"Turns out the Dublin boys aren't so clever after all".
Sunday Independent. Retrieved 3 April 2021. My first reaction on Thursday when I heard about the Dublin training session was that it must be an April Fool's joke."I just didn't think they would get themselves into a situation like that'". Hogan Stand. 5 April 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2021. Speaking to RTE's Sunday Sport, Cooper said... he had thought it was an April Fools' joke when he heard about it first. 'I thought it was an April Fools', said the five-time All-Ireland winner. 'They've built a reputation as being very clever people in terms of how they perform on the field and off the field. I said that there was no way that they would put themselves in this situation... The bigger problem here is that there are so many clubs and inter-county teams around the country abiding by the rules that the Dubs just decided for themselves that they were going to [train]... The fact that it was an organised and supervised training session as well... had [they] that much to gain when we knew that the green light was being given to the GAA in a couple of weeks' time to get going. For a team like Dublin that are so professional in everything... I think it's probably tarnished a bit of their reputation...'"Colm Cooper: Dublin made a 'poor decision' to train together before GAA return date".
RTÉ Sport. 4 April 2021. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
^Galvin, Kieran (6 July 2022).
"Change of referee for Tailteann Cup final".
Westmeath Independent.
Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2022. Maurice Deegan of Laois had been listed to referee the final of the inaugural competition, but Derry's Barry Cassidy will now take charge of the game. The GAA confirmed the change this afternoon (Wednesday).
^Gannon, Tom (18 July 2022).
"Laois GAA ref blows his final whistle Maurice Deegan Interview". Leinster Express. Archived from
the original on 18 July 2022. Maurice was due to referee his last inter-county game in the inaugural Tailteann Cup Final between Westmeath and Cavan but unfortunately contracting Covid meant he couldn't don the black polo shirt for the last time in an inter-county environment.