John Fogarty: Covid a clear threat to integrity of GAA summer

An isolation room at Holycross GAA Club in Tipperary outlines the protocols required in the fight against Covid-19. A positive Covid case forced Dublin to make four late changes to their panel for Saturday’s Leinster hurling final, a sharp reminder that the pandemic remains a very real threat to sport. Picture: Inpho/James Crombie

Sports bulletin, Monday, August 9, 2022: All-Ireland senior hurling finalists Limerick and Kilkenny are to shortly enter biosecure camps ahead of Sunday week’s decider in an attempt to avoid positive Covid tests.

Both counties have confirmed they have taken the measures to give themselves the best opportunity of lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup, Limerick looking to retain the trophy and Kilkenny aiming to win it for the first time in five years. 

As the Delta variant takes hold of the country and impacts the unvaccinated, Limerick and Kilkenny hope to avoid having to stand down players, an unfortunate trend which began when Mayo’s footballers had to do without a number of players in early July and four of Dublin’s hurlers were replaced on the Leinster SHC final panel the following weekend.

“It’s an unprecedented measure but we believe it is in the team’s best interests,” said Limerick chairman John Cregan. “The virus is so prevalent that it would be a real shame if it meant a player was to miss out on the biggest hurling day of the year and their careers.”

Kilkenny chair Jimmy Walsh remarked: “Our team would usually go for a training camp the weekend before a final and we are extending that for safety reasons. We want to protect the group and we see this as the best way to do it.”

The GAA are determined to finish out the Championships as scheduled having already pressed forward with the Leinster SHC final despite the withdrawal of the Dublin players at the 11th hour.

Both counties are expected to escalate their fundraising efforts in the coming days to offset the cost of the camps, although Croke Park is expected to be in a position to provide some financial assistance while the Government may also be approached for financial and vaccination assistance. Grants are traditionally provided by Central Council to the finalists for the purposes of their team holidays and these monies could now be used towards supplementing the group accommodation costs.

Players and management will be asked to work remotely for the period. They are expected to be subject to daily antigen tests up to the morning of the final on August 22. The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) are understood to be in discussions with the GAA and county boards to ensure players’s work and study commitments are not compromised by the camps. Compensation is a thorny issue although a daily stipend could be provided for the inconvenience akin to what International Rules players receive when touring Australia.

The winners of this weekend’s All-Ireland senior football semi-finals will likely follow suit with all four county panels now taking extra precautions so as to avoid further Covid cases and close contacts.

THE scenario painted isn’t as far-fetched as you might think. Brian Cody was majorly concerned on Saturday about what happened to Dublin. He appeared to express his sympathy with Mattie Kenny at the final whistle as he did with Dublin in the press conference afterwards but his most obvious worries pertain to his own group and avoiding a similar fate to their Leinster final opponents.

As more people in their 20s and 30s receive vaccinations in the coming weeks, the dangers of suffering the worst effects of the virus lessen but as Cody spelt it out: “You can be very unlucky and get the virus but it’s the close contact situation that really can cripple a team. The responsibility is on everybody concerned to be totally vigilant and you can still have hard luck so hopefully over the next few weeks it will go well for all teams because it is so important to continue on playing sport.”

Just as important is that the integrity of the Championship isn’t damaged any more than it has to be. A Covid championship remains a championship but to merely play the games for the sake of it would be a hollow exercise and threaten the competitions with the dreaded asterisks. Mayo easily survived without their missing men against Leitrim but Dublin’s hurlers didn’t in going down to Kilkenny and there is a strong possibility others will suffer as a result of being considered close contacts.

Clubs are feeling the Delta variant’s wrath too — will county boards show compassion to those whose grade status depends on having their players available? Little was shown to Dublin on Saturday, Kenny highlighting the GAA’s determination to have the game played, but had they lost four men the morning of an All-Ireland final would they have been told to carry on regardless?

“The show has to go on,” said Kenny with the wryest of smiles on Saturday. That it must, but simply ploughing on runs the risk of turning the championship into sham shows.

Davy Fitzgerald olive branch should be grasped

Davy Fitzgerald signs a young Wexford fan's matchday programme at Semple Stadium. Picture: INPHO/Tommy Dickson

Earlier this year, a former colleague of Davy Fitzgerald approached him about the situation in Clare.

Worried about the toll it was having on him and the Fitzgerald family, he wondered if the trouble and strife was worth it and questioned if Davy’s father, Pat, should remain in his role as Clare GAA secretary.

Fitzgerald insisted that his father was not going to be hounded out. As for why he continued to publicly defend Pat, he spoke of his dad’s selflessness and his contribution to three of Clare’s four All-Ireland senior hurling titles.

And then came the kicker: “What if it was your father?”

Fitzgerald knows the personal toll the rift has taken on people in Clare and explained on Saturday that he was prepared to do his bit and at least speak with Brian Lohan. They may never play in the same fourball but if they could move on, then that would be something.

The laziest take on Fitzgerald’s olive branch regarded it as an attempt to divert attention from Wexford’s defeat to Clare on Saturday. In fact, he spoke about why Wexford lost to Clare prior to addressing matters in his native county.

He had also told members of his management team that he was going to make an offer to sit down with Lohan regardless of the result in Thurles.

There is a keenness in Wexford for Fitzgerald to remain on but two successive qualifier defeats have to be weighed up and he would also be aware of the spectre that Clare casts over Wexford — they are in the same divisional group again next year.

Lohan has more pressing matters this week but in the future, Fitzgerald’s move towards some sort of reconciliation should be reciprocated.

Does confirmation bias fuel views on Dublin?

Dublin's Brian Fenton watches as his shot is saved by Harry Hogan of Meath. Picture: INPHO/Ken Sutton

“The empire is starting to crumble” was the hopeful analysis that followed Dublin’s latest unconvincing victory in the Leinster senior football championship.

Brian Fenton and so many others have yet to lose a Championship game but the growing belief is that it is only a matter of time before the county’s seven-year unbeaten SFC run comes to an end.

Such views run dangerously close to confirmation bias and the aspiration that there is a change at the top. Sure, Dublin have been uncharacteristically jittery but there were more indications of their own selves on Sunday than in Wexford two weeks previously.

Claims of unrest in the camp and the training session controversy bubble away in the background as those on the outside seek explanations for the stuttering start. Stephen Cluxton’s absence is colossal but if the likes of James McCarthy, Fenton, and Ciarán Kilkenny aren’t offended by claims they can’t win a seventh consecutive All-Ireland title without him, then they should be.

On Sunday night, Colm Cooper gave a measured opinion of Dublin:: “I think it gives a little bit of confidence to the chasing pack that maybe Dublin aren’t at the level that they were before. It just makes it all a little more interesting.”

Nothing more, nothing less. When less than their best is something their challengers can only wish to emulate, it could be enough. We can’t quite believe there is a need to put the following words together but here goes — write off Dublin at your peril.

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