“I wouldn’t wish it on any football team” – Tyrone now on course to have full squad available for Kerry clash

"On paper nobody is in lockdown."

Tyrone appear to have achieved what they wanted, in having a full squad to select from for their upcoming All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry. The game was originally meant to be played two weeks ago, but with a COVID-19 outbreak in the Tyrone camp, infecting players and coaching personnel, they requested a two week extension. The GAA granted them a one week extension instead, but the Red Hand county didn't deem this as enough time and pulled out of the competition, forcing the GAA to reconsider, and grant the two-break, to allow their players to recover. Speaking to the Irish Independent, Joint Tyrone manager Feargal Logan has revealed that their training has reassumed, with full numbers and that their preparation is now underway accordingly.

“Any phone call can take you out as a close contact, you’re very anxious with every call so until we get through to Thursday even Friday night, it will be hard to say. "On paper nobody is in lockdown but we still have players coming back and we have to assess them for the next couple of days.

“I couldn’t say to you that some boys you would like to start would be playing in Croke Park. Hopefully it will be reasonable. Some of the rules around isolation have been lessened again up here. “It has been partly close contacts but the reality of it was infection against a serious number of players and that was the difficulty.

“It’s for real, we’re doing our best to get this gathered up. We don’t want to be making excuses. I hope Kerry have got the message from us. "We would apologise that anyone would be put out but that was just the way it all happened and it developed that way.

“We couldn’t see any other way out of it and we appreciate what Kerry have done. The GAA deserve great credit too for what they’ve done. This could visit any community, any house. "I wouldn’t wish it on any football team.”