Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games

• 12 March – following Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's 12 March announcement from Washington, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), alongside the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and Football Association of Ireland (FAI) all immediately announced the two-week suspension of games.^[5]
• 13 March – Ireland's Minister for Health Simon Harris said people returning from Spain or Italy would have to "not quite self-isolate" but "restrict their movements" upon returning to Ireland; this affected the Tipperary county hurling team, the reigning All-Ireland Champions, who had flown in advance to the Costa Blanca in Spain for a training camp.^[6] Tim Floyd, Secretary of the Tipperary County Board, also contracted the virus but recovered.^[7]
• 17 March
  • The GAA confirmed that the opening fixture of the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, due to have taken place at Gaelic Park in The Bronx on 3 May, had been postponed.^[8]
  • Michael Carton, the former Dublin hurler who won the 2013 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, revealed he had been in hospital since the previous weekend after testing positive for COVID-19.^[9]
• Four-time All-Ireland football winning manager Seán Boylan also contracted COVID-19 at around this time and was in hospital until 31 March, according to an interview he gave on RTÉ Radio the following January.^[10]
• 18 March – the GAA confirmed that its Féile na Gael 2020 hurling and camogie event (jointly to have been hosted by Dublin, Kildare and Meath in early June), Féile na nÓg National football tournaments (jointly to have been hosted by Donegal, Derry, and Tyrone in late June), the Celtic Challenge under-17 hurling development competition and every event intended to have involved academy squads, would be cancelled in 2020 as a result of the damage done by the virus to its other competitions.^[11]
• 30 March – the Irish Independent reported that Ard Stiúrthóir Tom Ryan had told employees through a conference call that their wages would be reduced by between 10 and 20% for the month of April; the GAA confirmed the following day that the report was accurate.^[12]

• 7 April
  • That morning, the former Offaly county football team manager, Fr Tom Scully, who led the team to the 1969 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, died in Dublin of COVID-19.^[13]
  • Other GAA figures reported to have been infected by the virus around this time included Club Aontroma Chairman Niall Murphy (who narrowly survived) and Ulster Camogie Chairman Jennifer Cultra.^[14][15][16]
• 29 April – the administrator Noel Walsh (i.e. "Mr Clare Football")^[17] died of pneumonia resulting from COVID-19.^[18]
• 13 April – the All-Ireland winning hurler Jonathan Glynn announced that himself and his fiancée had tested positive for COVID-19 in the United States, where he was working as a coach with the New York team, but both had isolated for two weeks and recovered.^[19]
• 14 April (the day after the Easter Monday public holiday) – the GAA announced that—following the government's Good Friday three-week extension of restrictions—the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and 2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship would be postponed "until further clarity on the current situation is available. However, it is the Association's view that it is highly unlikely these will be rescheduled any time before the beginning of July, at the earliest".^[20] The Ulster GAA also announced the immediate cancellation of the Ulster Club football leagues, the Buncrana Cup (under-16 Football League) and the Ulster Minor Football League.^[21] The Ulster Minor Football Championship was changed to mirror the fixtures of the 2020 Ulster Senior Football Championship, so that both competitions could be played together if a suitable date arose.^[22] The Leinster GAA announced that both the Leinster Minor Football Championship and Leinster Minor Hurling Championship would be run as knock-out competitions if they were to occur at all.^[23]
• 17 April – a remote Special Congress occurred, the outcome of which granted the GAA emergency powers to change competition structures to respond to the pandemic (such rule changes would normally be decided at an Annual Congress).^[24]
• 30 April – the GAA confirmed wage cuts for staff would continue into May and June.^[25]
• 6 May – the GAA announced that it expected no inter-county matches would take place until October at the earliest and asked all counties to cease preparations until 20 July, while unveiling a COVID-19 Advisory Group whose members included Pat O'Neill.^[26]
• 11 May – that night, the COVID-19 Advisory Group had its first meeting (online).^[27]
• Antrim football captain Declan Lynch told a newspaper in late May that he had experienced a mild form of COVID-19, from which the BBC said he had recovered by June.^[28]

• 5 June – the GAA's COVID-19 Advisory Group unveiled details of a four-phase "Return to Play" roadmap.^[29]
• 12 June – the various sporting organisations unveiled details of a COVID-19 education programme for clubs.^[30] As part of this a "COVID supervisor" would monitor every team at each club.^[31]
• 26 June – that morning, the GAA announced that all inter-county competitions would commence in October 2020, with the football championship to feature a knock-out format for the first time since 2000, while the hurling championship reverted to an open draw (made later that evening) and retained the possibility of a second chance for losing teams. The GAA opted not to reschedule the New York Connacht championship game and postponed its proposed new Tailteann Cup competition until 2021.^[32]
• 9 July – that night, the GAA's management committee updated match regulations ahead of the resumption of club games, restricting the number of substitutes and officials and introducing water breaks (one in each half).^[33]
• By late July, small numbers of spectators were permitted into games on both sides of the border.^[34]
• 23 August – Wexford GAA club Shelmaliers defeated Naomh Éanna to win the first County Championship to be completed since the discovery of COVID-19.^[35]
• 12 September
  • The GAA announced that the emergency administrative powers agreed in April had been extended until 4 December.^[36]
  • London withdrew from playing in the remaining league and championship fixtures.^{[citation needed]}
• 19 September – Donegal GAA announced that one of its county footballers had tested positive for an asymptomatic case of COVID-19.^[37] The players were tested just before the squad began training for the resumption of inter-county play, with one positive result returned.^[38] The rest of the squad entered isolation.^[39] Among those to praise the decision to make public the result was Monaghan player Darren Hughes.^[40] Two months later, Conor Morrison spoke of receiving a COVID-19 test in advance of surgery on a long-term leg injury in Santry on a Monday morning in September, with a positive result received that night (matching descriptions in reports at that time, he was also asymptomatic); Morrison, however, said he had not been in contact with other members of the county team (the injury having occurred during a game for his club St Eunan's the previous month) but his surgery had to be postponed until October and he had had to isolate.^[41]

• 2 October – the Armagh county football team suspended training after several COVID-19 positive tests within the squad.^[42][43][44]
• 5 October
  • The PSNI launched an investigation after receiving reports of inadequate social distancing between spectators at the Derry Senior Football Championship final, held on 4 October after being moved to an alternative ground due to a rise in COVID-19 cases close to the original venue.^[45] Cork GAA also addressed an absence of social distancing on streets in South Cork after Blackrock won the Senior Hurling Championship for the first time since 2002.^[46]
  • The GAA, in a decision endorsed by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association (LGFA), suspended all club fixtures with immediate effect on 5 October, stating: "In particular, post-match celebrations and a lack of social distancing at certain events have proved disappointing and problematic. This directive applies to all ages and all grades across the island".^[47] Later that day, the Government of Ireland excluded spectators from all games under new restrictions that applied those then in effect in Dublin and Donegal to the rest of the country (this did not affect counties north of the border where limited numbers were still permitted to attend).^[48] Any remaining club fixtures were postponed until the respective county's inter-county season had finished.^[49]
• 7 October – the Fermanagh county football team suspended training after several COVID-19 positive tests within the squad, and the decision was also taken to suspend the activity of the county hurlers and minor footballers, as well as the training of club players which was still permitted following the GAA directive of two days previously.^[50]
• 15 October – Wexford GAA confirmed four of its senior footballers and two of its senior hurlers had tested positive for COVID-19.^[51]
• 17 October – league and championship resumed (see that section for further details).
• 24 October – In an article published in the Irish Examiner on this date, Clare footballer David Tubridy confirmed that he and his father Tommy had recently tested positive for COVID-19.^[52]
• 3 November – Sligo withdraw from the Connacht championship.
• 15 November – in his Sunday Independent column published on this date, Colm O'Rourke wrote that the former Cork player and manager Billy Morgan had recently been seriously ill after contracting COVID-19.^[53]
• 30 November – Deputy Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn told a press briefing that evening that the GAA was not at fault for the virus's resurgence in Ireland.^[54]
• 13 December – 2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final^[55]
• 19 December – 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final^[56]

• 1 January – the GAA gave advice on which activities were permitted under the restrictions which had been imposed following increased COVID-19 transmission over the Christmas period, i.e. individual training but no collective training, no club games and no access to club grounds.^[57]
• 5 January – GAA director general (Ard Stiúrthóir) Tom Ryan issued a letter to county secretaries barring county teams from collective training for at least the rest of the month and also stating that club and county gyms should be shut until further notice.^[58] Collective training had originally been scheduled to resume on 15 January.^[59] However, Ronan McCarthy's Cork county football team were filmed earlier that month training on a beach in Youghal, "crawling on their elbows and lumping logs above their heads", as described in The Irish Times.^[60] McCarthy was later given a twelve-week ban and Cork lost a home league fixture, while Down county football team manager Paddy Tally and his team received the same punishment for a similar breach of the collective training ban.^[61] Tally's ban was reduced to eight weeks on appeal, effective immediately and meaning it would expire on 5 April before any games were expected to occur.^[62] Tally later explained that this was the first such session, intended to introduce new players to the team's running programme, and that managers of other teams had been asking about the possibility of challenge matches.^[63] McCarthy also appealed his twelve-week ban but was unsuccessful.^[64] He then appealed it again in March and was also unsuccessful.^[65] He appealed it in April too and, again, was unsuccessful.^[66]
• 22 January – the GAA denied reports it intended go ahead with intentions to redevelop the Cusack Stand at Croke Park, citing the pandemic as the cause.^[67]
• 1 February
  • The GAA postponed its draws to determine the opening fixtures of the 2021 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and 2021 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.^[68]
  • Following a meeting the previous evening, the GAA further delayed its decision on when to allow county teams to resume collective training.^[69]
• 10 February – the GAA announced that there would be no county team activity (i.e. training or games) until Easter Day (4 April) at the earliest.^[70]
• 16 February – the GAA announced a record loss of €34.1 million for the financial year ending 31 October 2020, contrasting with 2019 profits of €8 million, with half of its 2020 funding being provided by government.^[71]
• 27 February – the 2021 GAA Congress was held online (a first in GAA history)^[72] and marked the formal transition of the presidency from John Horan to Larry McCarthy.^[73] Horan issued a message in the last monthly GAA Newsletter of his presidency for the organisation's membership to assist if they could with the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines.^[74]
• 12 March – one year since the GAA first suspended its activities due to the pandemic.^[75]
• Weekend of 18/19 March – a Central Council meeting approved a GAA management committee decision to extend its special emergency powers until 21 May and the GAA cancelled its customary membership deadline of 31 March for the year 2021 due to the pandemic.^[76]
• 22 March – that evening, a 5 pm meeting of the GAA's COVID-19 Advisory Group endorsed a request by Ulster GAA officials for young and adult players north of the border to return to training from 12 April as would be permitted for sports there.^[77] The GAA later clarified that county teams would not be permitted to train collectively there, only clubs.^[78]
• 26 March – the Irish Examiner published the results of a Freedom of Information request which revealed that Government informed the GAA on 24 December that senior inter-county games were permitted but then brought forth legislation taking away the "Level 5 exempted sports" entitlement of senior inter-county games on 31 December, a decision which the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) had no part in. The GAA was not informed of this decision and only discovered it when its then president John Horan asked Jack Chambers during a video conference call on 8 February. The timing of the 24 December assurance also appeared to contradict public comments by Chambers that the senior inter-county game exemption expired after the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, which had by then taken place.^[79]

• 1 April – the Irish Independent published photographs of a coach-led group of Dublin county football team members, including All Stars Footballer of the Year Brian Fenton, whom it reported had gathered at Innisfails GAA club before 7 am on the previous morning. The session occurred around 12 hours after the GAA sent a note to each club and county, warning that any club or county team ignoring the collective training ban could risk putting the GAA's intentions to return to action "in serious jeopardy".^[80] The GAA immediately appealed to other counties not to behave as the Dublin football team had, i.e. breaking a GAA rule but, more seriously, breaching the Government's Level 5 restrictions then in place to counter the public health crisis.^[81] Apart from minister Jack Chambers, other politicians to criticise the transgression included Alan Dillon,^[82] the MEP (and former GAA president) Seán Kelly^[83] and former Taoiseach Enda Kenny.^[84] Former Meath football manager Seán Boylan, who had been seriously ill with COVID-19 the previous year, also said he "baffled and shocked".^[85] The date of the publication (April Fools' Day) and the seriousness of the transgression in contrast to the Dublin team's previous reputation led to much confusion about whether it could really have occurred.^[84][86] However, that evening, after investigating the accuracy of the report, Dublin GAA suspended its own football team manager Dessie Farrell for 12 weeks with immediate effect, matching the earlier ban that the GAA had issued to Cork football team manager Ronan McCarthy, with the GAA earlier announcing an investigation that would lead to further possible punishment. Irish Independent journalist Colm Keys noted that Dublin's transgression "has happened against the backdrop of public health advice. Such a scenario wasn't clear back in early January [the time of the McCarthy incident] when it wasn't clear that GAA teams had lost that elite status. The assumption was still there that an elite group could train".^[87]
• 4 April – former Dublin camogie team manager Frank Browne called for Dessie Farrell's resignation as Dublin county football team manager for the "arrogance" of his team's behaviour, adding: "I think it's a cop out to say they're amateur players. We're all amateur players involved in the GAA, we all know right from wrong and it was wrong".^[88]
• 6 April – the GAA warned in its April newsletter against any further collective training ban breaches by teams, stating that the transgression of the Dublin footballers and public attention the incident had received in recent days had "brought the spotlight on our Association".^[89]
• 8 April
  • The Irish Independent reported that Minister for Justice Helen McEntee had received photographic evidence and video footage of Monaghan county football team players collectively training in late March and thus breaching the COVID-19 Level 5 restrictions. Minister McEntee sent the details to both the Garda Síochána and Croke Park.^[90] The incident occurred at Corduff GAA club near Carrickmacross and members of the county's management team were implicated.^[91] The Department of Justice confirmed that it had received the information and passed it on to the Garda Síochána, the GAA and the Department of Health.^[92] Gardaí launched an enquiry into the matter.^[93]
  • Monaghan GAA suspended Séamus McEnaney for 12 weeks after the team manager admitted involvement in breaching the Level 5 restrictions and said it would comply with a GAA investigation into the incident.^[94]
  • Minister Jack Chambers told RTÉ: "My officials from the Department of Sport have been in touch with the GAA to reemphasise that all breaches undermine the broader public health messaging". Tomás Ó Sé said on RTÉ Radio 1: "The big difference between Cork and Down earlier in the season compared to Dublin and Monaghan is that the Dublin and Monaghan issues happened on GAA grounds". Former GAA president Seán Kelly said: "It's terrible to see it happening, officially organised, in a GAA club, by a county team... Saying you can't start training until two or three weeks after other counties would be a good place to start" as an additional punishment, he said.^[95]
  • GAA president Larry McCarthy said the GAA's reputation had been damaged by the recent breaches of Level 5 restrictions.^[96]
  • The GAA released its revised fixtures calendar. The leagues were set to begin on 8 May. The football championship was scheduled as a straight knockout for a second consecutive year, London and New York's participation in the Connacht Senior Football Championship again deemed impossible.^[97]
• 12 April – clubs north of the border were permitted to resume collective training, which had been banned since the previous October.^[98]
• 13 April
  • It was announced that the draws for the championship would occur on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 April.^[99] They did.^[100]
  • Cork, Down and Dublin were given no home National Football League games as punishment for their training misbehaviours.^[101]
• 16 April – the GAA revealed renewed guidelines ahead of the return to collective training for county teams, scheduled for the following week.^[102]
• 19 April – squads involved in inter-county competition were officially allowed to train collectively for the first time in four months.^[103]
• 26 April – the reopening of pitches and permission for young players to train with their clubs.^[104]

• 4 May – Minister Jack Chambers confirmed that non-playing members of county team panels would be permitted to be present at games in the upcoming National Leagues.^[105]
• 8 May – the 2021 National Hurling League began (see that section for further details).
• 15 May – the 2021 National Football League began (see that section for further details).
• 25 May – the GAA announced that an attendance of 500 would be let in to National League fixtures north of the border from the following weekend, the first allowance of spectators at inter-county matches since 8 March 2020.^[106]
• 21 June – the first pilot test fixture at Croke Park occurred, a league game between Derry and Offaly.^[107]
• 26 June – the 2021 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and 2021 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship began (see that section for further details). On the same day Sligo return to the Connacht championship but easily beaten by Mayo.
• 3 July – 8,000 were allowed into Croke Park for the 2021 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship semi-finals.^[108]
• August – the 2021 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final between Kerry and Tyrone, and the 2021 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final between Mayo and Tyrone were twice delayed due to COVID-19 within the Tyrone squad.^[109]
• 27 November – the draw for 2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship took place, and included London and New York.^{[citation needed]}
• 31 December – the 2022 McGrath Cup opening game between Clare and Waterford was postponed, with Waterford unable to field a team due to COVID-19 cases and contacts.^[110]

• 5 January – the 2022 O'Byrne Cup opening round game between Meath and Wicklow was called off, with Wicklow infected by COVID-19.^[111]
• 13 January – the 2022 O'Byrne Cup fixture game between Carlow vs Westmeath was postponed too.
  • London played a first inter-county game since March 2020.^{[citation needed]}
• May – both London and New York returned to the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship for the first since 2019.^{[citation needed]}
• 2020's Leinster and Munster Senior Hurling Championship round-robin games were rescheduled for the season.^{[citation needed]}
• 6 July – the GAA confirmed a change of referee to Barry Cassidy for the inaugural Tailteann Cup final.^[112] The original referee Maurice Deegan was absent for what would have been his final inter-county game after contracting COVID-19.^[113]

• 13 January - O'Byrne Cup games between Carlow vs Laois & Wexford vs Louth were both cancelled.
• 7 May – As Galway host Sligo in the Connacht final it's rescheduled of the Connacht semi-final postponed in 2020.
• 21 October – First Ireland vs Scotland since 2019 was played.

• 7 and 8 September - newspaper reports on plans to bring back Ireland vs Australia or Railway Cup.
• 12 October - As the 2025 GAA football championship draws were held London and New York Connacht Quarter finals of 2020 those were postponed between Roscommon vs London and Galway vs New York were included.
• 18 and 19 October Railway Cup is back for the first time since 2017.

• 5 April - As Roscommon played London in the Connacht football championship rescheduled what was postponed in 2020.
• 6 April - As Galway played New York in the Connacht football championship rescheduled what was postponed in 2020.
• 9 September - A Connacht council meeting is held for 2026 cancelled Connacht championship games in 2021 between Mayo vs London and Roscommon vs New York will be expected to finally take place.
• 27 November - The draw of the 2026 Connacht football championship takes place with fixtures Mayo vs London and Roscommon vs New York featured on the draw for the first time since 2016 didn't feature on 2021 draws.

• 11 April - After not being held in 2021 Mayo finally played London in the Connacht football championship.
• 12 April - After not being held in 2021 Roscommon finally played New York in the Connacht football championship.

The return of Ireland vs Australia still no plans.