LEITRIM have awarded a walkover to Fermanagh after their Division 3 football league clash was called off.
The two sides were due to meet in Ballinamore on Sunday afternoon, with Fermanagh chasing promotion against their bottom-side hosts.
However, in a statement on Saturday, Leitrim GAA revealed that they would not be able to field a team for the game due to injuries and unavailabilities.
The statement read: “Leitrim GAA regrets that it has to concede the Allianz Football League Round 6 game to Fermanagh which was due to be played in Ballinamore tomorrow.
“The reasons for this are genuine and revolve simply around the availability of enough fit to play players to fulfil this fixture.
This weekend the Team Management has a total of 13 outfield players who are fit to play tomorrow, including two players who are just coming back from serious injury one of whom has been out for 14 months & has played only 12 minutes in the last game versus Offaly.
“This does not include our two goalkeepers who are recovering from head injuries and are not fit to play.”
Six of the panel will be with the Leitrim U20s, who play Galway in the Connacht championship next week.
Leitrim GAA added: “In addition to this, six members of the panel are not available tomorrow due to the fact that they are in preparation for a Connacht Under 20 Championship match versus Galway on Wednesday evening next.
“We must stress that the Leitrim players were very keen to play this game if it was at all possible.
“Due to overall player welfare considerations and a duty of care towards the group for the greater good, we have had to take this unprecedented and unfortunate decision.
“In reality, we could find ourselves with only 12 players on the field tomorrow.”
Steven Poacher is in his first season as Leitrim manager, having been appointed last October.
And he has undertaken a season of change, with 20 of the 32 players to have played for his team this year doing so for the first time.
The Ridge County cited the degree of player turnover as having contributed towards Saturday’s decision.
“The complete background to this decision includes the fact that in the preparation for this year’s campaign, an inordinate number of last year’s panel had declared themselves unavailable for the 2025 season.
“The current Team Management appointed at the end of October has had to deal with forming a panel in a much-delayed timeframe in which preparation only commenced in December.
“Due to the unavailability of former players, they found themselves reliant on a large number of inexperienced players and younger players from the Under 20 age group.
“The workload in preparation for this season has cumulatively taken its toll and a multiplicity of simultaneous injuries has brought us to this unfortunate situation, which has resulted as outlined.”
