Longford set to give Cork walkover in 'dead rubber' league fixture

A decision on whether the game will be played as scheduled on Sunday (2pm) at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park is expected this afternoon.

Pearse Park is due to host the Division 3 clash. Picture: Laszlo Geczo

Cork’s footballers are set to have no more competitive matches until their Munster Championship semi-final against Kerry after Longford put in a request to concede this weekend’s National League clash between the counties.

With the match declared a “dead rubber” by Longford boss Pádraic Davis, the Leinster county felt there was no need to fulfill the fixture amid the pandemic. However, the county board says that Monday’s announcement that the country would move to Level 5 restrictions didn’t affect the decision to try and concede the tie - the call had been made before Micheál Martin’s announcement.

Promotion to Division 2 is still mathematically possible for the Midlands County - but they would have needed to beat Cork and hope a couple of other results went their way.

“The levels didn’t come into it at all,” Longford secretary Peter O’Reilly said of the correspondence with GAA chiefs.

“The realism that we are not going to get promotion, we’re not going to affect anyone else getting promotion so there was a decision made (Monday) evening that we were putting an expense and everything else on Cork bringing them up this far and for what?” While the game going ahead looks very doubtful, no official word was given from Croke Park at the time of going to print.

Should the walkover be confirmed, it will seal Down’s promotion to Division 2 after the Mourne County themselves received a walkover from Leitrim last weekend.

The Connacht side cited the “the greater health situation” for not fulfilling the fixture.

Cork are due to receive the Division 3 cup at the Longford town venue on Sunday.

Ronan McCarthy’s side returned to action after the lengthy pause in the season last weekend, where they comfortably beat Louth in Páirc Ui Chaoimh.

Championship opponents Kerry host Donegal this weekend in Tralee in what will be their last match before meeting their arch rivals. A win for Peter Keane’s side will see them crowned League champions.

For Longford, the walkover will not affect their preparation for the provincial championship, where they meet Louth in the first round on November 1 in Mullingar.

They also confirmed that they have had no Covid-19 scares in the camp. A positive case of the virus in the county led to a round of club championship games being postponed, meaning that competition has yet to be completed.

Meanwhile, it is understood that the decision from government to allow inter-county action continue includes the minor and U20 competitions.

The Munster MFC quarter-finals see Clare play Tipp and Limerick face Waterford with both games scheduled for Saturday lunchtime.

Elsewhere, after last night’s games, the Munster U20 hurling semi-finals are set for Monday night. Cork travel to the LIT Gaelic Grounds to face Limerick while Dungarvan will host the meeting of Waterford and Tipperary.