Northern Ireland

Tyrone welcome new August 28 date for All-Ireland semi-final

The Tyrone management team of Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher have seen considerable Covid-related upheaval in recent weeks. Picture by Philip Walsh
The Tyrone management team of Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher have seen considerable Covid-related upheaval in recent weeks. Picture by Philip Walsh The Tyrone management team of Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher have seen considerable Covid-related upheaval in recent weeks. Picture by Philip Walsh

TYRONE GAA last night welcomed the decision to give their senior footballers one more week to get ready for an All-Ireland semi-final

The clash with Kerry is back on after Croke Park agreed to push the date back to August 28.

It is the second postponement of the meeting of the Ulster and Munster champions following a serious Covid outbreak in the Red Hand camp.

Tyrone and Kerry officials met with the GAA leadership last night and agreed that the tie will go ahead two weeks later than originally planned.

Tyrone have given an undertaking that irrespective of the situation facing them at that stage, they will fulfil the fixture.

The All-Ireland final, pushed back until September 4 due to the initial postponement, will now also be delayed for a further week and take place on Saturday September 11.

On Saturday Tyrone had announced that they would not be in a position to play on August 21 due to concerns over player welfare.

The GAA’s latest decision came hours after Kerry released a statement indicating they were willing to wait an extra week to face the Red Hands.

County chairman Tim Murphy said the Kingdom wants to stick to its tradition of earning All-Ireland titles in a competitive manner on the field of play.

“Kerry is a proud GAA County, rich in the tradition of Gaelic games which is deeply engrained in all our clubs and communities. Every All-Ireland title that Kerry has won, has been hard earned after a tough competitive campaign and we expect this year to be no different.”

Tyrone has had around 20 cases of coronavirus among the squad.

One player has been hospitalised, while others were confined to bed, Tyrone’s joint-manager Feargal Logan has revealed.

Others have been self-isolating as close contacts of confirmed cases.

“We have had one player hospitalised with clinical Covid, and a whole cross-section of symptoms,” he said.

“We have a number of players confined to bed and to home.

“Ultimately, in order to meet the safe return to play protocols, we just need time.”

The eagerly-awaited match at Croke Park had first been due to be played yesterday.

In a statement on Saturday, the county board said it had made the decision that it could not field a team on August 21 after receiving “expert medical opinion on the existing, and future health and welfare of the players who contracted the Covid-19 virus during the period of this last two weeks”.

It said the decision had been taken with “the greatest reluctance, and with deep regret”, but added that the “welfare and safety of players has been the over-riding factor in all considerations of this difficult situation”.

In a fresh statement last night, Tyrone welcomed the additional postponement.

The Red Hand county paid “tribute to Kerry GAA and its senior football team for its assistance and co-operation in creating the circumstances that allowed this decision to be reached.”

And it added: “The Tyrone players and management will prepare as safely as possible, in the continuing difficult circumstances, to ensure that the best available team will now fulfil this very important fixture.”