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Just a few months after coming out of the second county lockdown, Offaly’s manager of minor pitches, Leo O’Connor, says it’s frustrating that the youth season between the counties is coming to a halt once again.
After the initial Level 5 restrictions in March and another closure for the county in August, the county’s minor releases manager believes further clarity on the latest hiatus will be welcomed as soon as possible.
The GAA confirmed this afternoon that the 2020 inter-county U20 and minor championships would be stopped indefinitely beginning at midnight when the six weeks of Level 5 restrictions begin.
The Government’s plan for this level stated that “professional, elite sports and inter-county Gaelic games, horse racing and greyhound racing” could continue behind closed doors. “
But NPHET’s recommendation was that only “inter-county majors” competitions should take place at the GAA competition, raising immediate concerns about the completion of the junior championships. Croke Park’s statement was later issued confirming the break in play.
This means that Saturday’s decisive Eirgrid All-Ireland U-20 soccer match between Dublin and Galway will not take place as scheduled. The Leinster Council, however, confirmed that their U20 hurling championship matches will take place tonight as planned, just hours before the suspension of underage action begins.
Former Limerick senior pitcher and current Faithful junior manager O’Connor says that while they feared the competition would stop, the news is still a huge blow.
O’Connor, the former Limerick star of the ’90s, worked in the past as Treaty County’s junior and under-21 hurling manager, leading them to Munster’s under-21 hurling title in 2011 with Declan Hannon, Shane Dowling, Kevin Downes, and Graeme Mulcahy, all aboard. He then led a lesser Limerick team to a Munster final in 2015, with Kyle Hayes, Seamus Flanagan and Peter Casey all involved.
Following the loss to Kildare at last year’s Leinster MHC, O’Connor was appointed Offaly’s coach for 2020 and they bounced back this season with a good win over a Laois side imagined for at least a week.
They were to face Kildare again the next time before news of today’s hiatus was announced.
“It has been very, very frustrating,” O’Connor says, speaking of the government’s further clarification on Level 5 restrictions.
“The lack of clarity about the situation has been immense. We comply with all the protocols according to the book. These young people are at school, they are doing everything well during the day and when they come with us, they had a temperature … checked every night that they went into training.
“We had a tent with the sides raised when we needed to chat with them, so we were chatting with them outside. Everything has been done perfectly, the best we can. It’s very, very frustrating at this stage when you hear the word ‘ leisurely ‘and due to the lack of clarity that has come from this, what does the word’ leisurely ‘mean even at this stage?
“Are you going to visit him again in January? February? These young guys, they’re under 18 years old, so when that’s happening they start a competition, they take a break, it’s very frustrating for everyone and the parents in particular. put in as much effort as the kids and it’s very, very frustrating at this stage when things have stopped.
Until the events of this morning, the GAA had planned to complete the underage championships and the matches had been launched with that in mind.
Croke Park held an executive meeting to seek further clarification and they are expected to provide details soon on when the competitions could resume.
They may even be revisited early next year, and O’Connor says that despite the usual harsh weather conditions, this would be welcome.
“Elite pitches would be fine to host matches and pitches in most stadiums would be fine, I think,” he said.
“It would be great to go back to that. We’ve put a considerable amount of work into our strength and conditioning and our shooting and fair enough if it had to close.
“But the boys and their parents have done everything they can to get us here.”
“When we played Laois I told Derek McGrath (former Waterford coach and current Laois junior coach) that any team that wins might not see a second round – the most frustrating part is that we got up and went after the lockout. .
“We were allowed to play club championships and Offaly had a three week lockout, so everything has been stopped.
“We got going again on September 21, going to minor games across the county, talking to our players, seeing how they were doing and following all the protocols.
“Like I said, we did everything right. I hope we know more soon.”
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