All-Ireland football final moved to 4 September as Kerry v Tyrone semi-final refixed

The games have been moved in response to a Covid outbreak in the Tyrone squad.

LAST UPDATE | 9 Aug 2021

THE ALL-IRELAND SEMI-FINAL meeting of Tyrone and Kerry has been postponed by six days, to Saturday 21 August, because of a Covid outbreak among the Tyrone squad.

The All-Ireland final has now also been pushed back, to Saturday 4 September with a throw-in time yet to be confirmed.

The final will now fall on the same day as the Republic of Ireland play Azerbaijan in a World Cup qualifier at the Aviva Stadium, with the All-Ireland ladies’ football championship football slated for the following day, 5 September.

Sunday’s U20 final between Offaly and Roscommon is going ahead as planned, with a maximum crowd of 24,000 still permitted. The GAA will seek permission to retain the expanded permitted attendance of 40,000 at the senior final on its refixed date.

“The GAA’s CCCC has today confirmed that Sunday’s GAA Football semi-final meeting of Kerry and Tyrone at Croke Park will not take place as originally scheduled and will now be played on Saturday August 21 at the same venue (time to be confirmed)”, read a GAA statement.

“This decision was taken following a status report received by the GAA relating to positive Covid cases in the Tyrone panel. This change will necessitate the GAA Football All-Ireland final being re-arranged to take place on Saturday 4 September.

“The GAA Football U20 final meeting of Offaly and Roscommon will proceed as planned at Croke Park at 1.30pm on Sunday with the same permitted attendance.

“The GAA will continue to liaise with the appropriate Government Departments and officials to discuss the practicalities of having these revised fixtures included under the statutory instrument that has facilitated the increased attendances of recent weeks.

“The GAA will also be working with the LGFA around the TG4 Ladies All Ireland Junior final scheduled for Croke Park on September 4.”

Kerry GAA chairman Tadhg Ó Murchú said the postponement is a “disappointment to us all”, but acknowledged the context that made the delay necessary.

“Today’s announcement to postpone the Kerry v Tyrone semi-final is a disappointment to us all. We are fully aware of the many Kerry Supporters who had made plans to travel to Croke Park for Sunday’s game.

“Notwithstanding this however we acknowledge that at we are all living in very challenging times and Covid continues to circulate in our communities necessitating the decision by the National CCCC to push the fixture out by six days.”

The first semi-final, which will be contested by Mayo and champions Dublin, is set to be played at Croke Park this Saturday evening at 6pm.

Updated with GAA statement at 15.15; with reporting by Paul Dollery

All-Ireland football final moved to 4 September as Kerry v Tyrone semi-final refixed

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