Cooney Still Hopeful Clare Junior A Football Final Can Be Played In The Coming Weeks

Derrick Lynch

The chairman of Clare GAA is hopeful that the last remaining adult championship in the county can still be completed.

It is after GAA’s decision to suspend all club games in light of Covid-19 concerns means the Clare Junior A football title will remain vacant for the time being.

A GAA management committee meeting on Monday morning cited post match celebrations and a lack of social distancing at certain events as being part of the reason to call a halt to proceedings.

The cull on club action means that the last remaining adult championship in final in Clare, which was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, can not now go ahead with the Banner and Ballyvaughan having been set to lock horns for the silverware and a place in the 2021 Clare intermediate championship. The Banner secured the Clare Junior B hurling title last weekend and were bidding for a historic double for the club.

In a social media post. Ballyvaughan-Fanore GAA stated “while it is a disappointment for all involved it was a understandable mature decision by the organisation in light of the evidence presented of how GAA activities contributed to the current rise in numbers. In advance of our impending final our executive had met to discuss how we as a club were going to comply with Covid 19 restrictions prior, during and after the game as a club, it is a huge responsibility that requires huge buy-in from all stakeholders, players, management, executive, fans and broader community. After today’s wake up call I’m sure all in Ballyvaughan – Fanore will, if and when the game proceeds, fully comply with all requested restrictions on the day”.

It also means that Inagh-Kilnamona and Feakle Killanena’s bid for Munster camogie glory will have to wait with both clubs having reached provincial deciders. Kilmurry Ibrickane were also due to line out in the Munster intermediate ladies club semi-final, but those three fixtures have all fallen by the wayside after the Ladies Football and Camogie Associations followed suit in putting a stay on club games until further notice.

A number of clubs in Clare have also suspended activity after positive cases were identified in the last week.

Chairman of Clare GAA Joe Cooney admits the decision came as a surprise but feels that the GAA had no choice but to act in the face of rising cases.

“None of us expected that club games throughout the country would be cancelled but with the amount of cases over the last number of weeks, it was getting concerning. The GAA felt with a large number of games going on without proper social distancing being observed, they were left with no choice but to call a halt to it for the time being. Most clubs are finished anyway and luckily enough in Clare we have all adult competitions finished except the Junior A football final. There are a lot of young people in particular being detected with Covid-19 and as we all know, the health and safety of our players, management, and all concerned is very important so that is why the decision was taken at short notice” he outlined.

It is understood that the Junior A final may well be given the go ahead to be played at some point during the intercounty window, with the pause on club action expected to last up to three weeks. The O’Callaghan’s Mills clubman said that could be an option but there is no certainty at this point.

“My belief is that it will be reviewed after three weeks and none of us know what the outcome will be for the intercounty scene as to whether it will be behind closed doors or what the protocols will be. If things improve with Covid-19, club competitions might get going ahead and hopefully we will get our Junior A football competition completed, which we as a CCC committee hope to achieve. We got almost all our competitions played and that is down to the great work by a lot of people from Covid officers, club executives, county board officials and the various committees. Without the work that they put in to get games played, we would not have been able to achieve what we did” he noted.

Mr Cooney also confirmed that the Clare minor football squad are currently in isolation following a confirmed case of Covid-19 in the squad. There has been questions raised over the decision to travel by bus to a challenge game in Galway in recent weeks but the chairman stated that all guidelines were followed in that respect.

“We did everything as regards the guidelines. I spoke to the manager before they travelled to Galway and they were happy that they were meeting guidelines. It was unfortunate that a player had tested positive and the squad have now gone into isolation and all players have been tested. We believe that there may have been a few more cases confirmed as positive. They are in isolation and all precautions have been taken in conjunction with Government and HSE guidlines and that is all we can do at the moment. We hope all players will be safe and well after the isolation period which is due to end this weekend” he said.