Tyrone manager Eugene McKenna and his Leitrim counterpart, Declan Rowley, agreed after Saturday evening's abandoned qualifier in Carrick-on-Shannon that the game should not have been played. McKenna described the conditions as "unbelievable" and Rowley said the "game should not have gone ahead".

Torrents of rain fell in the Carrick-on-Shannon area for long periods on Saturday, which left the pitch in a quagmire condition by the 7 p.m. throw-in time. The local fire brigade arrived in Páirc Seán McDiarmada around 6.30 p.m. and attempted to pump the water out of a number of pools that had formed on the pitch.

The fire brigade had limited success in their efforts by the time referee Eddie Whelan threw-in the ball. Shortly after the game began another heavy shower fell, which made the already dangerous conditions worse.

Leitrim had a dream start when James Holohan fisted a ball that came off the Tyrone crossbar to the net in the second minute. Tyrone responded with a pointed Stephen O'Neill free, six minutes later. The game, attended by 2,000 spectators, was abandoned after 14 minutes following an injury to Tyrone centre back Ciarán Gourley after a collision in one of the waterlogged sections of the pitch. The referee consulted with both managers before calling off the game.

Rowley, when he arrived at the ground, was informed that the pitch was playable but had serious doubts about this information after his team's warm-up. "When we came in from our warm-up I knew that the game should not go ahead." The Leitrim manager said his team was very much up for the game and he condemned "a lot of hurtful personal remarks that were made about Leitrim" in recent times.

The GAA has decided that spectators for the re-fixed game at 7 p.m. in Carrick-on-Shannon next Saturday evening will be given free admission.