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Leitrim has contacted Down GAA to say they are conceding today’s Division 3 game at Newry due to a “lack of game numbers available for travel.”
The news was originally released by the Down Country board on Saturday morning when they issued a statement: “Leitrim informed Coiste Chontae and Duin that they are unable to deliver the Allianz Football League match today due to lack of numbers from game available to travel. “
Therefore, the match is awarded and will not take place now. After a hot run in the league last year, Leitrim is now on the verge of returning directly to the bottom tier. Their last game is against Tipperary and they are hoping to complete the campaign.
Leitrim GAA issued a statement confirming the decision to concede the match, attributing it to “the greatest health situation” and expressing the hope that they can field a team against Tipperary in their last league match.
“Unfortunately, due to the increased health situation that has gripped the country, Leitrim GAA has been forced to concede our Allianz League match against Down today.
“Several players are waiting for the test results and are not available to travel. Other factors also prevented more players from being available, considering this higher health situation, and in this course of action, we must respect this situation.
“In short, we cannot deploy a team. We are experiencing very difficult times in a growing pandemic situation.
“Leitrim GAA is well aware of the efforts that have been made to get the inter-county season underway.
“However, this time around, we cannot deliver on this match, which is unfortunate. We are hopeful that our situation will be resolved before next weekend’s match against Tipperary.”
Leitrim GAA President Enda Stenson has always had great concerns about his players who will be lining up for matches over the next few months and that he would be “appalled if he thought one of our players is the cause of the spread of Covid-19 to anyone”.
This week he told RTÉ Sport: “The health and well-being of our young players is of the utmost importance to us and to everyone else. That’s the talk across the country. I couldn’t tell you how many calls I have received today. And yesterday of people saying, “Why are you doing this? You don’t have to do this. “
“This weekend our senior men’s team is in Newry, our senior women’s team has a challenge game in another county, our minors will be elsewhere and the senior pitchers will be in Bekan. That is, four teams will leave Leitrim to play in different parts of the country. “
Meanwhile, Down is firmly pushing the promotion they could now secure if they beat Louth next weekend. They are locked at seven points with Longford, while Cork has a 10-point lead.
Leitrim now loses two points and remains locked along with other counties in the battle for relegation – only five points separate the bottom five sides.
The possibility of the game being canceled was also raised by Leitrim manager Terry Hyland in comments to The Irish News this morning.
Hyland told the newspaper that, within the Leitrim team, there was “concern about the travel part, we have concern in our camp with guys with close contacts” and proceeded to label the decision with this weekend’s match as “crazy” .
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