The GAA insists there will be enough referees to handle next weekend’s Allianz Football League Round 1 fixtures, despite over half of inter-county football match officials failing new pre-season fitness tests.

Some top referees didn’t reach the 16.8 level required on the dreaded beep test, but they will be able to retake the tests again and are eligible to serve as standby officials for now.

"We have enough referees for the weekend," GAA Director of Club, Player and Games Administration Feargal McGill assured RTÉ.

"We have 19 referees who passed the fitness tests. We shouldn’t forget about them and they are primed and ready to go for the weekend. And we will reflect on the testing process and results in the coming days. We will also speak with representatives of the referees.

"The failure rate of the tests is a little higher than normal at this point. There is generally some rate of unsuccessful candidates in the system, but it is a little higher than normal this time and we will reflect on that."

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