Cork Post Primary GAA competitions postponed until 2021

The organisation tasked with overseeing the playing of GAA in Cork post-primary schools has today confirmed that they have postponed all their competitions until 2021.

The Cork Post Primary Schools Committee said the decision has been made due to Covid-19 related restrictions.

Officials released a statement this afternoon, noting that the situation is fluid and expressing hopes that "we will be in a position to get back on the fields of Cork in the new year."

The statement noted: "The school year of 2020/21 will truly be a year like no other. As schools prepare to open this week and next in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, they are faced with unprecedented challenges.

From social distancing to hand sanitization, from isolation rooms to crowded corridors, from vulnerable staff to vulnerable students, school managements face a myriad of obstacles that makes their already challenging jobs all the more difficult.

School GAA activity is one of the bedrocks of the association. If offers a unique opportunity for rivals to become team-mates and for players of all abilities to play together in a way that is seldom, if ever, possible at club level.

Without the hard work of teachers, the support of principals and the dedication of players, our games would be weaker. Hurling and football at post-primary level offers an outlet for young players to express themselves outside of the classroom while also helping them further their education within it.

But the GAA is also all about community, about helping one another out and about keeping people safe.

With all of this considered, it is with great regret that we have taken the decision to postpone all of our competitions until the new year.

The playing of our competitions is becoming more difficult every year due to circumstances like the prolonged club season, fundamental changes to our system of education and societal change.

With so many unknowns ahead of us, we feel that it would not be wise, or logistically possible for the Cork PPS to run our competitions safely and responsibly at this stage of the crisis.

However, we live in a fluid world. We will keep a close eye on developments over the course of the next few months and hopefully, as everyone strives to find a new way of living with Covid 19, we will be in a position to get back on the fields of Cork in the new year."