Ballincollig vs Nemo Rangers: Cork Premier SFC quarter-final postponed following coronavirus case

The game was due to take place on Sunday

Cork football manager Ronan McCarthy will have his full panel together for less than four weeks in advance of their Munster semi-final against Kerry on November 8.

The disruption to Cork’s championship preparations comes as the county senior football final is to be pushed back to the weekend of October 10/11 following the postponement of this Sunday’s Nemo Rangers-Ballincollig quarter-final.

All three Cork Premier SFC quarter-finals were to be played this weekend, with the semi-finals taking place Sunday week, followed by the decider on the weekend of November 3/4.

But the postponement of the Nemo-Ballincollig fixture, stemming from the notification of a Ballincollig club member testing positive for Covid-19 earlier this week, means the county championship will not now conclude until the weekend of October 10/11, at the earliest.

The Cork footballers return to league action on October 17/18, affording McCarthy less than one week’s preparation with his full panel ahead of Louth’s visit.

Of more pressing concern, however, will be the reduced period of time the management will have to work with their full panel prior to the county’s Munster semi-final against Kerry on November 8.

The Kerry SFC is to conclude on the weekend of September 26/27, affording Kingdom manager Peter Keane six uninterrupted weeks with his panel ahead of their trip to Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

McCarthy, speaking to this newspaper at the end of June, was hopeful of a similar preparatory period with his full squad. But today’s news of a Covid-enforced postponement and the knock-on implications for the Cork county championship as a whole means he will have to make do with just under four weeks preparation time.

Ballincollig GAA club shut down all activity on Wednesday morning after a club member tested positive for the virus.

A club statement earlier today said the club, following advice from the HSE, will resume activities on Friday morning, but this does not free up the senior panel as members of the squad are believed to be close contacts of the positive case.

Any individual who is deemed to be a close contact of the positive case must restrict their movements until September 26, as per HSE guidelines.

This is the second Cork championship fixture to be postponed in the space of a week because of the virus. Last Sunday, the SAHC relegation play-off between Killeagh and Kilworth was called off because of a positive Covid case. That game has been rescheduled for September 27.

No new date has been given for the Ballincollig-Nemo Rangers fixture.

All other Cork GAA fixtures proceed as scheduled this weekend.