Football

Donegal chairman urges patience in fight against Covid

&nbsp;Donegal GAA has been urged to stand together in the battle again coronavirus.<br />Picture Margaret McLaughlin
 Donegal GAA has been urged to stand together in the battle again coronavirus.
Picture Margaret McLaughlin
 Donegal GAA has been urged to stand together in the battle again coronavirus.
Picture Margaret McLaughlin

Donegal clubs may well see no action until at least the middle, if not the end, of June.

And the long-awaited 2020 county final between Kilcar and Naomh Conaill will definitely not be played in May, according to county chairman Mick McGrath.

It could be pushed back well into the summer “but it will be played” promised McGrath.

He added that there would be no point in playing the final in May with Covid-19 numbers still relatively high and a possible risk of understandable celebrations.

“We will be getting some indication hopefully in the next month. If the government say it is safe it would change matters,” said McGrath.

“But I can’t see any league activity until the middle or end of June.”

The chairman added that the Donegal CCC were ready to roll out the fixtures when they got further information from Croke Park.

McGrath said he was still concerned about the relatively high Covid numbers in the county, even if those numbers are declining.

He pointed to reports that hotels were not taking any bookings for June.

“They must not be expecting any normality in the streets until the end of June,” he said.

The county’s top official gave a cautious, guarded welcome to the GAA roadmap published by Croke Park but stressed that the situation remained volatile.

“It all starts on April 19 and Donegal has three weeks to prepare for their first match on the weekend of May 15 and we are in a tough League group with Tyrone, Armagh and Monaghan,” he said.

“It is good to have that guideline and we should have more detail in the next few days.”

But there is no indication yet of clubs or underage teams getting back into action.

“I know that Croke Park were keen to get the inter-county scene back in action and when that is done, I expect they will meet NPHET and see if the numbers are reducing and what the vaccine roll-out is doing.

“While we all want youth and clubs back in action as soon as possible it is out of our hands really.

“The underage in clubs will be able to train in bubbles of 15 at the end of April which is good news and I welcome that. With the long evenings coming in there is still a lot of anger in the public about our youth.

“So hopefully there will be a date for our U17s and U20s to return to training shortly.”

McGrath said he was “concerned” that the Donegal soccer leagues had pulled all their competitions.

“They are not going to have any leagues this year.

“But I have consistently said there is very little evidence that Covid is transmitted on the field of play and that needs to be repeated.

“We don’t want to go back to another lockdown and the vaccine will be an even bigger factor over the next month or so.

“But the government want to get the numbers down to about 100 per day, but it is still around 500 a day.

“We can’t ignore that, and the vast majority of people are acting responsibly but there are still a few people who don’t see the seriousness of it and don’t abide by the regulations.”

McGrath declined to comment on the recent revelations about Down, Cork, Dublin and Monaghan breaking Covid rules by engaging in collective training sessions, saying those in the Tir Chonaill county must bide their time.

“Donegal CCC are ready to roll as soon as they get the green light and the clubs are ready to roll,” he said.

“But we need patience, it is difficult but Donegal’s numbers, while they have come down, are being watched with concern. Unfortunately, we remain fairly high up the list.

“We were blaming Strabane and Derry for bringing Covid into the county, but their numbers are away down since Christmas.

“It is within Donegal that there are still proliferations.

“It has never gone to zero in Donegal since January.

“I think the government were right to allow children back to school and that is being managed quite well.”

He continued: “It is frightening what is going on in France and Germany and we are blaming the government for everything.

“But everyone is trying their best.”

“Over the next month we will see a lot of welcome activity, but it is very important that we don’t go back, and four weeks later the numbers go sky-high like we had to do at the end of last summer.”