With a month to go until Fermanagh are due to play Down in the Ulster Senior Championship, and just 10 days before they were set to meet Clare in the National League, their participation in the remainder of the 2020 season has been thrown into serious doubt after all GAA activity in the county was suspended until further notice.
The Fermanagh County Board have released a statement today saying that "a number of players" in Ryan McMenamin's senior inter-county panel have tested postive for Covid-19.
With club games already suspended after the GAA's directive on Monday, it means that all club training in the county will also stop as they try to contain the outbreak. They've also announced that all remaining club fixtures for the season will not go ahead at adult or underage level, except for the Junor football final, which will take place in early 2021.
The statement read,
A number of players within the Fermanagh senior football panel have returned positive tests for Covid 19.
At this stage, we are following advice from the Public Health Agency on dealing with this matter.
In order to prevent any further spread of this virus, and to protect the health of all those involved and the wider community, all collective activities involving the county's Senior Football, Senior Hurling and Minor Football panel are suspended until further notice.
Our primary concern throughout this public health emergency has always been the health of our players, members and the wider community and it will remain so in the time ahead.
With cases of the virus surging all over the North and Donegal, it's becoming increasingly unsure as to whether the Ulster teams will be ready to compete in the rescheduled Championship, and this news will come as a blow to the GAA.
If the outbreak is contained and no further positive tests follow, it's conceivable that Fermanagh will be ready to play Clare without the players in question and be at full strength for Down, but there will be a worry about administrators that the issue will get worse over the next few weeks rather than better.
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