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GAA President John Horan has confirmed that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic shaped decisions made about the competition schedule in 2021.
The inter-county fee will begin the GAA year in late February, and club action will begin the weekend of July 24-25, one week after the All-Ireland SFC final.
“The teams will not be able to train again until mid-January and the competitions will start at the end of February,” Horan told RTÉ Sport.
“The National Soccer League will be divided into a regional competition. Divisions 1, 2, 3 and 4 will be in two groups of four. The first two in each group will play in semifinals and finals, and the last two in each The group will play for the relegation places.
“The final of the National Football League will be on April 3, the final of the Hurling National League will be on April 10.
“The soccer championship will begin on April 17 and the hurling championship will begin on April 24, with the hope that the finals will be played in July.”
A club system had been considered first, but the likelihood of stringent public health restrictions during the first months of the new year, probably only allowing competition for elite athletes, made the GAA’s decision unavoidable.
“The Intercounty is going to go first and then to the club,” Horan added.
“It was considered that it serves the purposes of the club much better, that the overlapping characteristics from earlier times that caused difficulties would not be there.”
“We’re not sure where we’re going to be with the pandemic situation when the new year rolls around, so in that sense it was much easier to actually plan to have the inter-counties first.
“It will be a safer environment because even at the highest levels, we are allowed to play inter-county, while the club scene will hopefully take off later in the year.
“Hopefully, at that stage, we will have seen some light at the end of the tunnel in this pandemic.
“It caused a lot of debate because there are financial implications and there are the problems of the fans who come to the games.
“It was considered that we have to act in the best interest and that is the best interest of the association, I think, to serve the club well.”
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