Tyrone's Brian Dooher says rescheduled All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry may still be too soon
Following the announcement that the All-Ireland semi-final between Tyrone and Kerry has been delayed for six days, Brian Dooher says there is still no guarantee that the Ulster champions will be able to field a team.
Last Updated: 11/08/21 2:36pm
Tyrone joint-manager Brian Dooher has said the rescheduling of the All-Ireland semi-final does not guarantee that the Red Hands will be able to fulfil the fixture.
A Covid-19 outbreak in the Ulster champions' panel prompted the GAA to move the Tyrone-Kerry contest from Sunday August 15 to Saturday August 21, in order to give the players in question time to recover.
However, Dooher says they will still be under pressure to get a squad together for the meeting with the Kingdom on the new date.
"Based on our experience of Covid to date, and knowing how to get players integrated back into the panel having recovered from Covid, a fairly significant timeline [is] needed," Dooher told BBC.
"All medical evidence points towards that. Anything we've seen to date definitely reinforces that. So we believe we will struggle still to field a team on Saturday week, given the way the situation stands at the minute."
Dooher's comments come after the county board chairman Michael Kerr revealed that Tyrone GAA initially requested the game to be pushed back by two weeks.
Croke Park also decided to move the All-Ireland final back by six days until Saturday September 4.
Our live GAA coverage continues on Saturday, as Dublin face Mayo in the first All-Ireland SFC semi-final on Sky Sports Arena from 5pm.
