The GAA was set to reopen their pitches from Monday week for non-contact training before full sessions resume on July 20 and competitive games start from 11 days later.

However, that schedule is now under review and could see clubs being permitted to return to full training as early as next week.

“The GAA will review over the weekend its plans for a return to activity following today’s government announcement,” a statement from Croke Park read. “It is expected that the GAA’s Advisory Committee will be able to advance its plans for a return to activity and various options will be considered at its next meeting, after which an update will be provided.”

It is anticipated that the advisory group will convene over the weekend, if not Monday, when they will give the green light to contact training take place at least three weeks earlier than had been expected.

The decision by the cabinet could also see either competitive club games start earlier than July 31 and/or the club and county fixture windows increasing from 11 and nine weeks respectively.

The extra space for preparations and fixtures will be graciously received by counties who have been coming under pressure to formalise meaningful club championships up to October 11, while allowing county managers to train their teams from September 14.

Cork and Tipperary are two counties who had opted not to finalise championship formats before they were made aware of the national fixtures list for the remainder of the year.

The GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) had been due to release that revised inter-county fixtures calendar next week. Spanning from mid-October to mid-December, it is expected to commence with Allianz League games in both codes, which will finalise the outstanding promotion and relegation positions for 2021.

Starting with provincial championships, a Liam MacCarthy SHC Cup with a qualifier section and a straight knock-out Sam Maguire SFC Cup were to follow from late October. The CCCC may now consider if there is an opportunity to also implement a backdoor system in the All-Ireland SFC or possibly add the Tailteann Cup, which was to take place this summer, for the lower 16 counties.

FA Ireland will also digest the decision over the coming days as they had been looking at August 1 as a provisional restart date for the League of Ireland with the FAI Cup final concluding the season as per usual in November.

The IRFU’s provincial teams had already been scheduled to mark rugby’s return to play on the weekend of August 22. In a statement released soon after the Taoiseach’s address to the nation, the organisation reacted: “The IRFU welcomes the announcement from government today, which permits the return of sport from June 29. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the IRFU, the provinces and the clubs have illustrated their commitment to the safety of its players and volunteers.

“The process of implementing the appropriate public health measures in our clubs has accelerated in recent weeks and we are committed to returning to rugby safely.

“The IRFU in consultation with the provinces will assess the latest update from the Irish government and will communicate with clubs in due course. Clubs operating in Northern Ireland will be updated based on the NI Executive Coronavirus Recovery Plan.”