The start of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship looks set be delayed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

An official statement from the GAA has announced that "due to the current uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic" the Connacht Senior Football Championship meeting between New York and Galway has been postponed.

Padraic Joyce was due to take his in-form Galway side to the United States for the match which was scheduled to take place in Gaelic Park, New York on Sunday May 3, the opening weekend of the Championship.

The statement reads:

"The future for this fixture will be considered at a later date and in the context of the anticipated overall re-drawing of the national fixtures calendar for 2020 as necessitated by the ongoing disruption to the GAA games programme."

The GAA have told Off The Ball that the opening match of the Connacht Championship between London and Roscommon is still on for the time being but that it is under review.

That fixture is supposed to be taking place at McGovern Park in Ruislip on Saturday, May 2.

Currently all GAA activity, matches and training, is suspended until March 29 since last week but as the Covid-19 crisis worsens, that deadline looks likely to be extended.

There are two rounds and deciders still to be played in the National Football Leagues while the National Hurling League is still at the quarter-final stage.

Those competitions may have to be abandoned while it remains to be seen as to what way the football and hurling championships can be run off with the current government guidelines to help contain the spread of COVID-19 possibly continuing for weeks or months.

Meanwhile, former Dublin hurler and Leinster Championship winner Michael Carton became the first high profile player to announce a positive test for the virus.

Carton is currently in hospital and has been speaking about his test and the treatment he has received.