Éamonn Fitzmaurice: 'Integrity of the championship is now at stake'

Kerry GAA legend now believes GAA must find a way for Tyrone and Kerry to play their All-Ireland SFC semi-final

Paudie Clifford of Kerry is injured in a challenge with Padraig Hampsey of Tyrone during their Allianz League meeting earlier this season.

All-Ireland winning Kerry manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice believes that the GAA should explore all possible options in an effort to play the All-Ireland SFC semi-final between Kerry and Tyrone for “the sake of the integrity of the championship.” 

Tyrone GAA chiefs issued a statement this afternoon confirming they would be unable to fulfill Saturday’s rescheduled semi-final against the Munster champions in Croke Park due to a Covid outbreak in their camp.

The semi-final had originally been scheduled for tomorrow, August 15th. Tyrone officials had requested a two week postponement due to their situation but Croke Park bosses instead refixed the game for next Saturday in Croke Park. 

In today’s statement Tyrone officials said that “a large percentage of the squad would definitely be unavailable to play next weekend.” 

But Fitzmaurice now believes that the ball is in the GAA’s court as they face an unprecedented scenario at this stage of the competition.

“The will be a movement now for a refixture. From the GAA point of view, they will need to look at every option available to them. Could it be a case that the semi-final is pushed back a week again - and the All-Ireland final is rescheduled? At this stage of the championship is it going to be that costly to try to re-arrange dates? There are many other factors that must come into play - is there a timeline from the government in terms of attendance figures at these remaining games when the case numbers in the country are high at the moment. The club championship side of things has to be a consideration as well. But these things are probably all workable for the stake of the integrity of the All-lreland championship." 

Fitzmaurice admitted he was not "surprised" by the announcement 

"Once player health and well-being is mentioned then there was always going to be one decision for Tyrone. It is a shame for everyone. It is a shame for Tyrone and for their players and their management. And it is far from ideal for Kerry either. I’m disappointed but not overly surprised."

But the 2014 All-Ireland winning manager believes that Tyrone officials had to little choice given their situation.

“Sometimes we need to look beyond football and view the bigger picture. From a management point of view, a tight bond is formed with the players and there is an onus to look after people outside of football too. Sometimes players need to be protected from themselves - they want to play no matter what. I’m sure that those players would have been willing to put everything on the line despite their issues over the last number of weeks. But Tyrone GAA has had its share of tragedies over the years and I think they have made the right call for the right reasons. They simply do not want a situation which places undue risk on their players.” 

Was the news a shock to Peter Keane and Kerry county board? 

“Peter and Kerry county board would have planned for all scenarios. First and foremost they were planning for next week’s All-Ireland semi-final but they would also have put contingencies in place for a scenario like this developing.

"They will be very disappointed with this news. This Kerry team are mad for games, especially given it is nearly two years since they played a championship match in Croke Park. It is extremely unappealing to get a bye into an All-Ireland final given that you will be undercooked facing into a team coming through tonight’s semi-final.”