Tyrone's Division One game with Cavan called off after heavy rain

Healy Park was badly waterlogged

Tyrone's Division One Football League game with Cavan has been postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

After a series of pitch inspections, the decision to call off the game was eventually taken only 64 minutes before the scheduled throw-in.

Referee David Gough confirmed the Division One game was off shortly after inspecting the pitch following his arrival at Omagh.

By that stage, the Cavan team and fans from both counties had already arrived.

Heavy rain, which fell between 10:00 GMT and noon, left pools of water on the surface, and it was clear long before the official pitch inspection that there would be no action.

The NHL Division 3A tie between Tyrone and Donegal which was to have been the curtain-raiser was switched to Carrickmore, but that too was called off due to an unplayable pitch.

"There are at least seven visible puddles on it but about 40% of the pitch is under water. It's what you can't see is just as dangerous as what is there, so it would be unsafe for any of the players to be playing on it," said referee Gough.

"The safety of the players is paramount, so we just call it off and leave it for Croke Park to make the decision on when they will play the game."

Tyrone PRO Eunan Lindsay said both games had looked likely to proceed prior to the downpour.

"Up as far as 10 this morning, it looked to all systems go, and the club here were confident that they could have taken two games," said Lindsay.

"But the strength and the length of the shower left puddles on the pitch in several places and, in the interest of player safety, David Gough made the right decision."