Coiste Chontae an Dúin and the family that is Down GAA are saddened to learn today of the death of Gerard McDermott, Treasurer of St Colmans GAC Drumaness. Gerard has been a life-long member of the club and was well known to everyone in the parish of Magheradroll and to the wider GAA family, his father was a member of the original committee in Drumaness and from an early age Gerard was involved in the Club.

He never shirked from the responsibility of any duty for the good of his Club and at 82 years of age was still carrying out the role of Club Treasurer and fulfilling that role most ably. The healthy status of Drumaness as a Club and the impressive facilities that they developed over time owes a lot to the prudent and outstanding management of the Club Finances by Gerard.

Gerard was also a Referee and in recent times assisted many of our own referees as part of their Match Day team, as he donned the white coat and acted as Umpire for many crucial league and championship games, and he enjoyed that role, always fair and impartial, it was his hallmark.

He was also a man who was passionate about the success of his County and he took pleasure in following the Red and Black in all codes.

Gerard was a good friend to many and we in Down GAA acknowledge the role he played in developing Drumaness as a Club from 1954 to the present day, we have many good people within the GAA Family, and both Down and Drumaness were privileged that Gerard McDermott was one of those people.

To Gerard Wife Lorena, his son and daughters Monica, Anthony, Nula, the entire family circle and the Gaels of Drumaness we offer our deepest and heartfelt sympathy.

Ar dheis De go raibh a anam


 

The 2021 Ulster Football championship draw will be televised on the 6.01 News on RTÉ 1 on Tuesday April 20th.

Down will be in Bowl 1 for the draw along with Antrim, Armagh, Donegal and Fermanagh

2021 Ulster Senior Football Championship
Five teams are in Bowl 1: Antrim, Armagh, Donegal, Down & Fermanagh
Four teams are in Bowl 2: Cavan, Derry, Monaghan & Tyrone

Draw
Step 1: From Bowl 1, the 1st team drawn plays the 2nd team drawn in Preliminary Round.
Step 2: The four teams from Bowl 2 are added to Bowl 1, and teams are stirred.
Step 3: The third team drawn plays the winner of the Preliminary Round in the fourth quarter-final.
Step 4: The fourth team drawn plays the 5th team drawn in the first quarter-final and so on until and teams are drawn.

The 2021 Provincial Football Championships will commence on the weekend of June 26/27, with the Ulster SFC Final scheduled the weekend of July 31/Aug 1.

Thursday, 15 April 2021 at 7.30pm

How the Ban was broken: The road to abolition at Queen’s in 1971

The talk will be delivered by the historian and author Dónal McAnallen, whose works include ‘The Pursuit of Perfection: The Life, Death and Legacy of Cormac McAnallen’ and ‘The Cups That Cheered: A History of the Sigerson, Fitzgibbon and Higher Education Gaelic Games’.

We will also have a discussion with former international player and manager Martin O’Neill. An honorary graduate of Queen’s University, he won two European Cups with Nottingham Forest and captained Northern Ireland at the 1982 World Cup, before turning to management with the likes of Leicester, Celtic, Aston Villa and the Republic of Ireland. The discussion will focus on his experience of the Ban and the controversy surrounding the MacRory Cup schools semi-final in 1971.

You can register for one or both events by logging onto this link... https://forms.office.com/r/BzE0wKS1gN

Today saw a return of structured outdoor training for adults and underage groups across clubs in the North with on-field GAA club activity permitted for the first time since last October.

Return To train in ‘Six Counties’ from 12th April 2021

The NI Executive at their meeting on 1 April 2021 confirmed that structured outdoor training for sports

organisations, in groups of up to 15 people (including coaches), can resume in the ’Six Counties’ on Monday 12

April 2021. 

This is a cautious first step on the pathway out of lockdown and the following on-pitch group

numbers apply.

Adults (18+) – one group size limit 15 on the pitch.

Age 13-18 – maximum two groups of 15 on the pitch (no mixing of groups)

Age 12 and below – maximum three groups of 15 (no mixing of groups)

Contact training should be kept to a minimum and the playing of matches is not permitted.

It is essential that both Executive and GAA protocols are observed at all times in particular clubs should ensure

that they:

1. Refresh risk assessments/action plans. No Need to reinvent the wheel- message is to Refresh.

2. Promote HANDS-FACE-SPACE messaging via signs. Many of our Clubs have this in place already.

3. Keep records for contract tracing. Do what you were doing in 2020.

4. Build training plans building up from Pod cohorts (15) to full squads over time. Hopefully we will soon be back to unrestricted numbers, let us just be Patient and Sensible.

5. Modify training practices to build from limited contact to close contact over time. Patience is needed.

6. Enforce rules on no spectators (including parents) dropping children off should be present during

training.  Again, implement what you were doing in 2020, it worked well.

7. Keeping all indoor facilities (except toilet/medical) closed at all times. There is no need for Dressing Rooms to be open, we are just happy to have people back out on our Pitches.

8. Ensure that each person attending training has completed the GAA online health questionnaire prior to

attending – this must be done for every session.                     You did this well in 2020 , just repeat the process.

9. Re Covid Supervisors - The system will work in exactly the same format as before.  It is live now as I understand.

10. Re the eLearning Course and Re-Training -----if the individual has been trained in the past 12 months (which applies to everyone) then there will be no training need. 

For more detailed guidance on the GAA’s Covid-19 roles and responsibilities see the link below.

Covid-19 Roles & Responsibilities | GAA DOES: https://learning.gaa.ie/covid19roles

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An updated version of the GAA Return to Train/Play guidance is being finalised by the GAA’s COVID Advisory

Group and this will be issued to clubs in the near future.

• For All Your Anxious Team Managers it is important to say that based on information to date it is unlikely that there will be any return to competitive Club Action at Juvenile Level until Late May at earliest and at Adult Level until Late May/Early June-- So No Panic.

• The deadline for club membership subscription has been extended to 31st May 2021.
   
• CCC have extended the Deadline for Internal (within Down) Club Transfers to 30th of April 2021.
   
• A reminder that any player seeking to play Football or Hurling for a Club other than his Home Club requires an Annual Sanction Form to be completed, failure to comply will deem your player ineligible and not covered under the Player Injury Scheme. Sanction Forms are available on the Down GAA website. This applies to players of all Ages.

The Allianz Football League will start on 15-16 May with the finals scheduled for the weekend of 19-20 June. The finals will only take place if the teams involved are not featuring in the first series of championship matches over the following weekend.

The leagues which take a regional league format this year will see Down take on Westmeath, Meath and Mayo in Division 2 North.

- Top two in each Divisional group to league semis, followed by league final (League finals will only be played (on June 19th/20th) if Counties involved are not playing in the Championship on the following weekend, if that happened both teams will be awarded as joint winners and promotion.)
- Bottom two in each Divisional group to Relegation semis – losers (2) relegated.
 

Allianz Hurling League

In hurling, league action for Down will commence on 8-9 May in Division 2A.

Down will have five games in the round robin series where they will take on Carlow, Kerry, Wicklow, Meath and Offaly.

There will be no quarter-finals, semi-finals or final. Instead, there will be joint winners with the top team promoted and the bottom relegated.
 

Championship

This year's inter-county football championship will again have a straight knockout format as used last year because of Covid-19. Once again, the new second-tier football Championship Tailteann Cup will not take place in 2021.

Championship season starts on 26 June and continuing through until the All-Ireland Football Final on the last weekend in August, that will mean a 20-week inter-county season of league and championship competition before club action starts on the first weekend of September.

The Ulster Football Final is earmarked to take place on the weekend of 31 July-1 August with the provincial champions from the northern province up against the Munster winners in the All-Ireland semi-finals.

Inter-county players will be allowed to represent their clubs as soon as county teams are knocked out of the provincial championships, which in essence will mean all county players - bar those involved in All-Ireland semi-finals - will be available to their clubs by 1 August.

The provincial club championships - which did not take place last season - will return in mid-November and the GAA will ensure counties involved in the latter stages of the All-Ireland Championships will be last out in the provincial club championships.

As of yet, there are no return dates for collective inter-county minor or under-20 training.
 

2021 McDonagh Cup

- No semi-finals in Mc Donagh Cup.
- Mc Donagh Cup winners are promoted in 2021 (No back door into Liam Mac Carthy).
- Mc Donagh Cup Final will be on Saturday, 17th July

Mc Donagh Cup: Ciarraí , An Iarmhí, An Mhí, Ceatharlach, Cill Dara, An Dún
- Played on the following basis:
- Round Robin Phase – A and B groups of 3 teams, each drawn on an open draw basis.
- Each team plays 2 games (one home, one away).
- Top team in each group to Final
- Bottom Team in each group to Relegation Final.
- Semi-finals – Winner Group A v Runner Up Group B, and Winner Group B v Runner Up Group A Final (Home venue to Group winners

The NI Executive, at their meeting on 1 April 2021, confirmed that structured outdoor training for sports organisations, in groups of up to 15 people (including coaches), can resume in the ‘Six Counties’ on Monday 12 April 2021.

This is a cautious first step on the pathway out of lockdown and the following on-pitch group numbers apply;

Adults (18+) – one group size limit 15 on the pitch
Age 13-18 – maximum two groups of 15 on the pitch (no mixing of groups)
Age 12 and below – maximum three groups of 15 (no mixing of groups)

Contact training should be kept to a minimum and the playing of matches is not permitted.

It is essential that both Executive and GAA protocols are observed at all times in particular clubs should ensure that they;

1. Refresh risk assessments/action plans.
2. Promote HANDS-FACE-SPACE messaging via signs.
3. Keep records for contract tracing.
4. Build training plans building up from Pod cohorts (15) to full squads over time.
5. Modify training practices to build from limited contact to close contact over time.
6. Enforce rules on no spectators (including parents) dropping children off should be present during training.
7. Keeping all indoor facilities (except toilet/medical) closed at all times.
8. Ensure that each person attending training has completed the GAA online health questionnaire prior to attending – this must be done for every session

For more detailed guidance on the GAA’s Covid-19 roles and responsibilities see the link below.

Covid-19 Roles & Responsibilities | GAA DOES

An updated version of the GAA Return to Train/Play guidance is being finalised by the GAA’s Covid Advisory Group and this will be issued to clubs in the near future.

Inter-county senior training is scheduled to re-commence on Monday 19th April.

Having GAA activity return to our fields is a positive and most welcome development but we remain in a pandemic and there is an onus on everyone to minimise risk and to play their part in ensuring that all protocols are observed. By doing this we will ensure that there is no further undue delay in our desire to ensure a full return to GAA activity at the earliest possible opportunity.