Kilkenny footballer Paul Donnelly has claimed the team wasn't consulted over the decision to withdraw the county from next year's Allianz Football League as well as from the Leinster junior and U21 competitions.

Instead, the Cats will play in a new British championship which will be contested by teams from London and other parts of England and Scotland. The championship will be run off on a round-robin basis, with the winners going on to compete in the All-Ireland junior championship.

Donnelly has condemned the move, saying the first he heard of it was through the media.

"I'm disappointed with the way the county board went behind our backs. It's a step backwards and that's no disrespect to the British championship. How are we going to improve with a step backwards?" he said in The Irish Examiner.

The 28-year-old expects many players to walk away from the football team, and wonders how Kilkenny will be able to field a team next summer when the local hurling championship is in full swing.

He continued: "If it's June, most players are already committed to hurling. The way I see it, it's easy to play hurling for Kilkenny when you're that good because the motivation each year is to come back and play games because you're so successful. All the boys that play football take heavy defeats but still come back for more. They're heroes in my eyes but it would knock your confidence big time.

"I'm in shock. I was talking to a lot of players this morning and a lot of them are not going to commit next year. That might be heat of the moment talk but who'll even want to play us in challenge games?

"This thing is bad form from the county board, going behind our backs without even talking to us." Tweet

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