GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell has defended last Sunday's Fenway Hurling Classic in Boston.

Laois manager Seamus 'Cheddar' Plunkett questioned the cost of bringing Dublin and Galway to the US, arguing that the GPA should instead invest the money in weaker hurling counties. The 11-a-side game, which was watched by almost 28,000 spectators, was marred by a mass brawl which is currently being investigated by the CCCC.

Speaking at the awarding of scholarships for the DCU Business School MBA yesterday, Farrell pointed out that the trip didn't cost the GAA or GPA a penny.

"This is something very different, this is something innovative," he said.

"If we want to grow the games to international audiences, we have to think differently about our approach to date.

"Typically, it has been Allstars tours and, in my opinion, those games do a disservice to the GAA, as an organisation, and to Gaelic games as a whole."

He continued: "We do a lot for weaker hurling counties here. Donal O'Grady this year chaired a work group for us to review what's happening in non-traditional counties.

"And he already has made several recommendations, and many of those were introduced throughout the course of the year. We do an awful lot of work on that basis. I think many of the players who operate at that level will recognise that fact as well."

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