By Frank Craig

MARTY Boyle admits that the GAA’s decision to indefinitely suspend the playing of Gaelic Games for the foreseeable future has come at the worst possible moment.

Croke Park responded to what appeared to be serious breaches of public health guidelines connected to some club games last weekend, by suspending all club activity ‘indefinitely’ on Monday.

Naomh Conaill veteran Boyle believes the GAA has erred in not completing its club season behind closed doors as within hours of the GAA making its decision, the Government rejected the NPHET recommendation to move the country into Level 5 lockdown.

Instead, they’ve upgraded nationwide restrictions to Level 3, which would have allowed all GAA club games to proceed but without any spectators.

“At the end of the day under Government regulations or rules, this game could still go ahead this Sunday,” Boyle told the Donegal News. “At this stage, Tuesday, you’d really need to know sooner rather than later.

“But we were ready for it, Kilcar were ready for it and I think both sets of supporters were also so looking forward to it. They both accepted they wouldn’t be at the game.

“But with the streaming and with all the chat and excitement still in the air, it just feels like all that has been snatched away. It’s the limbo and the uncertainly of it that makes it hard to know how to react.

“There is no doubt that it had been an uncertain season to begin with. But we’d managed to stick to things well up here. A very good effort had gone in across the board.

“I don’t really go to games but I found myself watching most of the ones that were available this year. I was enjoying it. I feel Donegal clubs had been really good with how they’d adhered to and respected the guidelines.

“We’ve had Junior and Intermediate champions crowned with little fuss. It’s just disappointing now that the Senior one won’t be decided at the weekend.”

Croke Park has informed the Donegal county board that they can still complete their Club Championship in an inter-county ‘window’ if or when Donegal make their exit from this winter’s All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

But if Declan Bonner’s side were to make it all the way to December and the decider there, the 2020 Donegal SFC final might yet have to be played in 2021.

There are at least 10 senior Senior Championships still to be completed across the country. But Boyle reiterated the point that Donegal had been managing to stick to the rules well. And it’s hard not to feel like they’ve been reprimanded for the mistakes of others.

“Yeah, there is that element to it. Who knows now – you could be talking eight or nine weeks depending on the All-Ireland. It could be even longer. Is it a case of tipping over until then?

“Who knows where we’ll be with this thing at that stage down the road. It’s the uncertainty of not knowing. Both sides will have lads that have to travel.

“Is it fair to ask them to keep doing that, especially over the winter. It’s really up in the air and there are probably more questions than answers at this moment.”

The GAA’s decision to suspend club competitions comes after criticism around several incidents at and after GAA matches across the country in the last fortnight. Boyle, like so many others, saw the various clips of those actions on social media.

Still, he admits he didn’t expect the Donegal SFC decider to be affected.

“It still was (a shock),” Boyle said on the GAA’s decision to pull the plug on competitive club action. “The games and training had come so thick and fast. Right up until the semi-final we didn’t really have any time to draw breath.

“It was nice then to get that two-week break. From previous experience, going back into training that following Tuesday, after a semi-final, it’s a chance to draw breath and just take the foot off the pedal a little.

“This season especially, after the concentrated run off, the games have been rushed. But supporters enjoy that build up to a final and so do the players. It’s good for the communities involved to get the flags and colours up. So I’ve no complaints there.

“The dates were fixed and clubs had been given a fair shake of it I feel. Obviously, it was pushed back then because of the Covid. In the middle of a pandemic, that was always a possibility, and it was just unfortunate that it came before the final.”