To Croke Park: CC: GPA How can we seriously pretend to be concerned with player welfare when we the busiest, most demanding time of the year for our young players is late January to end mid-March. When will we stop asking them to play 4-6 games per week in the worst possible weather. This is nothing short of sheer lack of respect for the effort players are putting in in today's game. I cite Gearoid Hegarty in below example due to familiarity but condition exists for all 32 counties(Fitzgibbon, O'Byrne, McKenna Cup ,etc) and is for the most part met with a no more than a token comment until we tall ourselves out and go away for another year. Let's have the Croke Park committee STAND in uncovered stand for one or two games each weekend and perhaps it will give them a "fresh" perspective if not a severe case of the sniffles. Let's show some serious respect out young players by making August, September, October our busiest months .
Frorm Hogan stand today Feb 17 Limerick GAA star Gearoid Hegarty is in the middle of a hectic schedule at the moment. Hegarty lined out for UL in their defeat to IT Carlow on Wednesday afternoon, while he will be in action for the college's football team as they take on UCD in the Sigerson Cup semi-final on Friday. Should they be victorious, they will play the final on Saturday afternoon in the Connacht GAA centre. On Sunday, Hegarty is expected to line out with the Limerick senior hurlers as they take on Kerry in the Allianz NHL Division 1B clash at the Gaelic Grounds. The 22-year-old is vice-captain of the senior hurlers and an integral part of the county side.
i think pat you are correct , two thing to note in pats analysis - no club matches in this time with st pats - During the summer - no week in week out games
think the colleges game is putting too much demands on young players -Any player who is still under 21 will have it worse
It's also ironic that in a country with the weather we have the least amount of football played by clubs and counties is in June/July and August....you couldn't make it up actually.