THE GAA WILL make a decision on Friday whether this weekend’s league games will go ahead as adverse weather conditions hit the country and the hurling league knockout stages will have to be deferred if postponements take place.
There are six games scheduled for the football league on Saturday with ten pencilled in for Sunday. In hurling there are 17 matches fixed for this Sunday afternoon with the final round-robin games due to be played.
With Storm Emma set to cause chaos around the country, a call will be made on Friday if matches are to get the green light to be held. The Kildare hurlers and Leitrim footballers are set to fly to London for matches in McGovern Park in Ruislip on Sunday. A decision on those games could be made tomorrow night to accommodate the travelling teams.
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The key issue for the GAA will be when the concluding stages of the hurling league take place if matches are called off. There are no free weekends between now and the planned final date of 24 March. The quarter-finals are fixed for 11 March and the semi-final ties for 18 March.
The pressure is eased on the football league as there is a free weekend on 10-11 March when potential re-fixtures of Round 5 games could be held.
Feargal McGill, the GAA director of games administration and player welfare, revealed that midweek games will not be a runner if there are postponements and that if the hurling league games are rescheduled it will not impact on plans to keep the month of April free for club matches.
“We have a contingency plan in place for every fixture between now and the end of the leagues,” McGill told The42.
“That will allow us to finish the leagues and not impact on the club window in April.
“The plan doesn’t involve any midweek games. The big issue is our players are still amateurs and midweek games would involve people taking time off work.
“So even if there’s a second weather event, we won’t be looking at midweek fixtures. We’ll make the call for this weekend’s matches on Friday.”
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