As with other sports, the COVID-19 pandemic caused disruption to Gaelic games, primarily in Ireland but also elsewhere in the world. Competitions were cancelled, postponed or restructured, while some teams were withdrawn or were unable to participate in those competitions that went ahead.

The sports (football, hurling, camogie, and ladies' football) saw all competitions suspended from 12 March 2020. The National Hurling League, National Football League, National Camogie League and Ladies' National Football League, which were all running at the time, were suspended, with competitions not intended to resume until 29 March at the earliest. This proved to be an optimistic assumption.

The 2020 Football and Hurling Leagues, as well as a revised 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and 2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship were completed rapidly (and behind closed doors) between October and December of that year, in the period corresponding roughly to the gap between the second and third waves of the pandemic. London and New York were forced out of the football by the pandemic, the English-based teams missed the hurling. The Sligo county football team missed the 2020 championship due to an outbreak. The 2020 Camogie and Ladies' Leagues were cancelled.

The 2021 National Hurling League and 2021 National Football League were delayed when a third wave of the pandemic struck Ireland, infecting more people in the month of January 2021 than in the entirety of 2020.

Timeline 2020 March 12 March – following Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's 12 March announcement from Washington, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), alongside the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and Football Association of Ireland (FAI) all immediately announced the two-week suspension of games. 13 March – Ireland's Minister for Health Simon Harris said people returning from Spain or Italy would have to "not quite self-isolate" but "restrict their movements" upon returning to Ireland; this affected the Tipperary county hurling team, the reigning All-Ireland Champions, who had flown in advance to the Costa Blanca in Spain for a training camp. Tim Floyd, Secretary of the Tipperary County Board, also contracted the virus but recovered. 17 March The GAA confirmed that the opening fixture of the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, due to have taken place at Gaelic Park in The Bronx on 3 May, had been postponed. Michael Carton, the former Dublin hurler who won the 2013 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, revealed he had been in hospital since the previous weekend after testing positive for COVID-19. Four-time All-Ireland football winning manager Seán Boylan also contracted COVID-19 at around this time and was in hospital until 31 March, according to an interview he gave on RTÉ Radio the following January. 18 March – the GAA confirmed that its Féile na Gael 2020 hurling and camogie event (jointly to have been hosted by Dublin, Kildare and Meath in early June), Féile na nÓg National football tournaments (jointly to have been hosted by Donegal, Derry, and Tyrone in late June), the Celtic Challenge under-17 hurling development competition and every event intended to have involved academy squads, would be cancelled in 2020 as a result of the damage done by the virus to its other competitions. 30 March – the Irish Independent reported that Ard Stiúrthóir Tom Ryan had told employees through a conference call that their wages would be reduced by between 10 and 20% for the month of April; the GAA confirmed the following day that the report was accurate.

April–May 7 April That morning, the former Offaly county football team manager, Fr Tom Scully, who led the team to the 1969 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, died in Dublin of COVID-19. Other GAA figures reported to have been infected by the virus around this time included Club Aontroma Chairman Niall Murphy (who narrowly survived) and Ulster Camogie Chairman Jennifer Cultra. 29 April – the administrator Noel Walsh (i.e. "Mr Clare Football") died of pneumonia resulting from COVID-19. 13 April – the All-Ireland winning hurler Jonathan Glynn announced that himself and his fiancée had tested positive for COVID-19 in the United States, where he was working as a coach with the New York team, but both had isolated for two weeks and recovered. 14 April (the day after the Easter Monday public holiday) – the GAA announced that—following the government's Good Friday three-week extension of restrictions—the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and 2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship would be postponed "until further clarity on the current situation is available. However, it is the Association's view that it is highly unlikely these will be rescheduled any time before the beginning of July, at the earliest". The Ulster GAA also announced the immediate cancellation of the Ulster Club football leagues, the Buncrana Cup (under-16 Football League) and the Ulster Minor Football League. The Ulster Minor Football Championship was changed to mirror the fixtures of the 2020 Ulster Senior Football Championship, so that both competitions could be played together if a suitable date arose. The Leinster GAA announced that both the Leinster Minor Football Championship and Leinster Minor Hurling Championship would be run as knock-out competitions if they were to occur at all. 17 April – a remote Special Congress occurred, the outcome of which granted the GAA emergency powers to change competition structures to respond to the pandemic (such rule changes would normally be decided at an Annual Congress). 30 April – the GAA confirmed wage cuts for staff would continue into May and June. 6 May – the GAA announced that it expected no inter-county matches would take place until October at the earliest and asked all counties to cease preparations until 20 July, while unveiling a COVID-19 Advisory Group whose members included Pat O'Neill. 11 May – that night, the COVID-19 Advisory Group had its first meeting (online). Antrim football captain Declan Lynch told a newspaper in late May that he had experienced a mild form of COVID-19, from which the BBC said he had recovered by June.

June–September 5 June – the GAA's COVID-19 Advisory Group unveiled details of a four-phase "Return to Play" roadmap. 12 June – the various sporting organisations unveiled details of a COVID-19 education programme for clubs. As part of this a "COVID supervisor" would monitor every team at each club. 26 June – that morning, the GAA announced that all inter-county competitions would commence in October 2020, with the football championship to feature a knock-out format for the first time since 2000, while the hurling championship reverted to an open draw (made later that evening) and retained the possibility of a second chance for losing teams. The GAA opted not to reschedule the New York Connacht championship game and postponed its proposed new Tailteann Cup competition until 2021. 9 July – that night, the GAA's management committee updated match regulations ahead of the resumption of club games, restricting the number of substitutes and officials and introducing water breaks (one in each half). By late July, small numbers of spectators were permitted into games on both sides of the border. 23 August – Wexford GAA club Shelmaliers defeated Naomh Éanna to win the first County Championship to be completed since the discovery of COVID-19. 12 September The GAA announced that the emergency administrative powers agreed in April had been extended until 4 December. London withdrew from playing in the remaining league and championship fixtures. 19 September – Donegal GAA announced that one of its county footballers had tested positive for an asymptomatic case of COVID-19. The players were tested just before the squad began training for the resumption of inter-county play, with one positive result returned. The rest of the squad entered isolation. Among those to praise the decision to make public the result was Monaghan player Darren Hughes. Two months later, Conor Morrison spoke of receiving a COVID-19 test in advance of surgery on a long-term leg injury in Santry on a Monday morning in September, with a positive result received that night (matching descriptions in reports at that time, he was also asymptomatic); Morrison, however, said he had not been in contact with other members of the county team (the injury having occurred during a game for his club St Eunan's the previous month) but his surgery had to be postponed until October and he had had to isolate.

October–December 2 October – the Armagh county football team suspended training after several COVID-19 positive tests within the squad. 5 October The PSNI launched an investigation after receiving reports of inadequate social distancing between spectators at the Derry Senior Football Championship final, held on 4 October after being moved to an alternative ground due to a rise in COVID-19 cases close to the original venue. Cork GAA also addressed an absence of social distancing on streets in South Cork after Blackrock won the Senior Hurling Championship for the first time since 2002. The GAA, in a decision endorsed by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association (LGFA), suspended all club fixtures with immediate effect on 5 October, stating: "In particular, post-match celebrations and a lack of social distancing at certain events have proved disappointing and problematic. This directive applies to all ages and all grades across the island". Later that day, the Government of Ireland excluded spectators from all games under new restrictions that applied those then in effect in Dublin and Donegal to the rest of the country (this did not affect counties north of the border where limited numbers were still permitted to attend). Any remaining club fixtures were postponed until the respective county's inter-county season had finished. 7 October – the Fermanagh county football team suspended training after several COVID-19 positive tests within the squad, and the decision was also taken to suspend the activity of the county hurlers and minor footballers, as well as the training of club players which was still permitted following the GAA directive of two days previously. 15 October – Wexford GAA confirmed four of its senior footballers and two of its senior hurlers had tested positive for COVID-19. 17 October – league and championship resumed (see that section for further details). 24 October – In an article published in the Irish Examiner on this date, Clare footballer David Tubridy confirmed that he and his father Tommy had recently tested positive for COVID-19. 3 November – Sligo withdraw from the Connacht championship. 15 November – in his Sunday Independent column published on this date, Colm O'Rourke wrote that the former Cork player and manager Billy Morgan had recently been seriously ill after contracting COVID-19. 30 November – Deputy Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn told a press briefing that evening that the GAA was not at fault for the virus's resurgence in Ireland. 13 December – 2020 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final 19 December – 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

2021 January–March 1 January – the GAA gave advice on which activities were permitted under the restrictions which had been imposed following increased COVID-19 transmission over the Christmas period, i.e. individual training but no collective training, no club games and no access to club grounds.