The Sligo senior gaelic football squad have moved to clarify their position on the county’s decision to concede their Connacht football semi-final to Galway.
In a statement issued to Ocean FM Sport on Friday night, the players sought to make it clear that they wanted Saturday’s game to go ahead.
The statement says that squad members, who were healthy and fit to play, were keen for the fixture to be fulfilled.
They claim the decision to concede the match was made for reasons outside of the players control.
The players were unhappy with the situation they found themselves in this week – and have expressed their disappointment that a solution wasn’t found to enable Sligo to field a Connacht Championship team this weekend.
Below is the players statement in full:
“The perception that Sligo senior footballers did not want to fulfil this weekend’s fixture is incorrect.
All players who could feasibly make themselves available wanted to play the game.
The players are disappointed the game could not proceed for reasons outside their control.
No member of the panel will be making any further comment at this time”.
Sligo GAA confirmed late on Tuesday night that they were conceding Saturday’s Connacht semi-final to Galway, following a Covid outbreak in the squad.
Seven players and a backroom team member initially returned positive tests – with an unspecified number of players deemed close contacts.. The number of positive cases amongst the playing squad rose to 10 players following re-testing in recent days.
Sligo currently have a championship squad of 32 players.
Earlier this week, team manager Paul Taylor explained to Ocean FM his rationale for the game being conceded:
