The Government has given the green light for elite sport to proceed despite moving to Level 5 restrictions for six weeks.
The GAA inter-county Championships can get underway this weekend as planned, the Six Nations will restart with Ireland welcoming Italy to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, Pro 14 games will continue, while the League of Ireland season can be completed.
The elite field sports are granted an exception along with horse-racing and greyhound racing, all of which will be staged behind closed doors.
Although virtually all sport outside of the top bracket halts for the next six weeks, there is a further exception with non-contact training for school-aged children in pods of 15, though all other training should be individual.
It remains to be seen whether the GAA allows the under-20 and minor grades to continue. Minor action in both codes got underway over the weekend, while the under-20 hurling Championship continued tonight.
With the bulk of the competition having been played earlier in the year, the All-Ireland under-20 football final between Dublin and Galway has been fixed for Portlaoise next Saturday after both counties won their semi-finals on Saturday and will almost certainly go ahead.
The senior hurling Championship starts with Dublin playing Laois in a Leinster quarter-final on Saturday at Croke Park, while Clare and Limerick meet in Thurles on Sunday. The football Championship gets underway on October 31, with All-Ireland finals in both codes scheduled to take place in December.
There remains a degree of unease at the prospect of playing inter-county games in the current climate, largely due to the players’ amateur status, with Louth senior football captain Bevan Duffy questioning the level of testing that the players are subjected to, which is less rigorous than professional athletes have enjoyed.
He said: "I don't understand, with the case numbers going up, the way things are all around the country, how GAA inter-county footballers are all of a sudden immune to this.
"We've teachers in that dressing room. We've lads living at home, a lot of lads living at home with their elderly parents.
"It doesn't really make that much sense.
"The protocols need to be better, without a doubt. There hasn't been any testing at all, which I can't get my head around,” he told LMFM.
There was no statement from the GAA or IRFU tonight, though the FAI has said it will “discuss the Level 5 restrictions for sport with the Government tomorrow and will meet internally before updating our members at the earliest opportunity”.
