GAA president John Horan insists his organisation did all they could to help the Ladies Gaelic Football Association during their recent fixture controversy.
There was a big backlash to the venue for the Cork-Galway senior semi-final earlier this month being switched twice, originally from the Gaelic Grounds to Parnell Park and then on the morning of the game to Croke Park when the pitch at the Donnycarney venue was frozen.
The game was brought forward from 1.30pm to 1.10pm due to the men's senior semi-final between Tipperary and Mayo throwing in at Croker at 3.30pm and Galway, who only arrived half an hour before throw-in, did not have time to fully complete their warm-up routine.
In the aftermath, Galway, who lost the game, hit out at a suggestion from the LFGA that that was their own fault due to lingering in their dressing-room.
Horan said that the GAA had originally made Semple Stadium available to the LGFA for a semi-final double header, and then Breffni Park/the Gaelic Grounds when a schedule clash for the Cork players involved in both camogie and football materialised.
The Gaelic Grounds had been reserved on the proviso that the Limerick hurlers would have the pitch if they reached the All-Ireland final, which they did, so the game was switched to Parnell Park in Dublin, where frost intervened.
"From a GAA point of view, I felt we could do no more," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
"I was contacted that morning at 10.20 and two phone calls later we had staff in and Croke Park available for the game to be played.
"The CEO of the LGGA, Helen O'Rourke, contacted me and said Galway had requested an extra ten minutes, and it was given, they started the game at ten past.
"My involvement in it, and the GAA's involvement in it was to make the pitches available. We acceded to every request, except, with eight days’ notice, Limerick had to be taken off the clár."
"There's a very good working relationship"
Asked whether the GAA was open to amalgamation with the separately run ladies football and camogie associations, Horan replied: "We're working very closely together. We don’t have an issue with any of these situations, there’s a very good working relationship.
"I feel people are focusing on one negative aspect of the relationship.
"Yesterday, we had a meeting at a very high level between myself, the Ard Stiúrthóir (director general Tom Ryan) and our counterparts in the LGFA. We’re having one with Camogie this evening.
"These are meetings that were long planned, we’ve had a memorandum of understanding for the last three years, and we’re looking for a meeting with (Sport Ireland CEO) John Treacy in January to outline the amount of co-operation that is going on."
Horan also pointed out that the three organisations had collaborated on their Covid advisory committee, would be using the same new registration system for players and had worked together on funding proposals for government.
Several counties have yet to complete their club championships after the GAA paused all club games in response to excessive celebrations in October.
Admitting that the championships had gone "slightly, in the end" off the rails, Horan said that the Association still hoped to stage the several 2020 county finals outstanding but that it might not be possible until the country was back at level 2 of coronavirus restrictions, down from the current level 3.
"There were a lot of games played. It was the post-match celebrations," he said.
"We took action ourselves before NPHET or the Government or anyone approached us and shut down the remainder of the championships."
He expressed relief that that similar scenes hadn't followed Limerick's All-Ireland hurling final victory over Waterford and similarly urged Dublin or Mayo supporters to celebrate "in a safe manner" this weekend.
"I was probably as nervous as (managers) Liam Cahill and John Kiely in the context of how the post-match celebrations would go.
"All week beforehand, we liased with the Gardai, local authorities and the county boards, to make sure that any celebrations that took place were done in a safe and compliant way with the public guidelines.
"I'd like to compliment both Waterford and Limerick, as counties, supporters and county boards, for the way they delivered on it.
"We have repeated the same procedures this week with Dublin and Mayo. We have engaged with local media to get that message out to people to celebrate but in a safe manner.
"Don’t tarnish the success of any team by it being caught up in a controversy of the pandemic increasing in a particular area."
Just like Liam MacCarthy, the Sam Maguire Cup will not be leaving Croke Park.
"People probably thought it was a bit harsh to make that decision but I think it helped the situation in Limerick last weekend and we'll do the same this weekend," he said.
As for his Christmas wish, Horan said that getting supporters back into stadiums was the GAA's key goal for 2021.
"Hopefully, we get crowds back into the games. We are very dependent on crowds for our revenue stream.
"But that will only be done in a safe manner, with the guidance of government.
"If we can get crowds back, it would ease the financial pressure on us because we are under huge pressure as an organisation."
Watch the All-Ireland senior football final between Dublin and Mayo live on RTÉ2 from 3.40pm Saturday, listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 or follow our live blog on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app. Highlights on The Saturday Game (9.55 pm RTÉ2)
