Under 21 championships to continue

May 03, 2007
The GAA's Player Welfare Manager Paraic Duffy doesn't believe the Cadbury's All-Ireland under 21 championships will be abolished any time soon. Duffy suggested a few months ago that the under 21 championships should be removed from the calendar in order to reduce the pressure on players. But speaking ahead of Saturday's Cadbury's All-Ireland football decider between Cork and Laois in Thurles, the Monaghan man conceded that the idea of abolishing the grade hadn't receive much support. "I suppose I would be less optimistic now than I was a few months ago about the possibility of doing away with the competition," he said. "We did seek submission from counties, players and different groups. I would sense that there isn't sufficient support for the idea. "It's part of what we're looking at, at the moment in terms of burnout and other possibilities are being put forward. One is restricting it, such as anyone playing in the National League can't play in the under 21 championship. "Also restricting it in terms of age - ruling out minors or even under 19s. I would still feel that it causes more problems than it's worth but I'm not so sure that's widely enough shared to bring such a change about."

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