Louth’s participation in this year’s Allianz National Football and Hurling leagues has been suspended following the confirmed case of FMD discovered in the county last week. With all fixtures off within the county for at least 30 days, the GAA took the unfortunate decision to suspend their league programmes with immediate effect to avoid fixture congestion or confusion ahead of this summer’s Championships, with a backlog of fixtures already building up.
However, GAA President Sean McCague has insisted that the GAA will be sympathetic towards Louth, with the decision unlikely to affect their current league status. He confirmed: “Although we have indicated that they will not be allowed to take part in the remaining league games, we will review their situation at the end of the season. Should they find themselves in a relegation position, we have agreed to review the situation in light of that. If that doesn’t arise then they would have to accept that they would retain the status they have this year going into next.”
Louth are currently third from bottom of the NFL Division 1A with a win and a draw from their opening five games, while they are also third from bottom in Division 2 of the NHL, with one win from three.
Meanwhile, players from Down and Armagh who are included in the exclusion zone will not be allowed train with their county teams.
Filed by Shane Murray
