CPA AAR READY TO MEET GAA LEADERS

AARON KERNAN says the Club Players Association will meet with the GAA’S new leadership shortly.

John Horan and Tom Ryan have recently taken up roles as the GAA president and director general respectively while Kernan is one of the higher ranking members of the CPA, which was launched in January of last year.

A workable fixtures programme is top of the CPA’S wishlist and Kernan was critical of the fact All-ireland club hurling champions Cuala (inset) were back in Dublin SHC action last weekend – just a fortnight after winning the Tommy Moore Cup.

He said: “I know there’s a meeting in the pipeline fairly soon.

“The main thing is always the fixtures. And I suppose if you go back to the weekend where Cuala are playing the first round of the Dublin championship two weeks after they’ve become

All-ireland champions.

Where’s the buzz for those boys? Go out and celebrate for a week and then it’s not even as if they’re turning up for a league game, it’s championship, so when do they get their break? How tired are their county players at this stage?

“It’s a brilliant position to be in when you get to an All-ireland club final, I wouldn’t change it, but if I look back now, I never really got the chance to enjoy my All-ireland wins and that disappoints me.

“I probably should have just gone away but I always felt I owed it to Armagh to go straight back in with them, the following week.”

Kernan added: “Would Derry be in Division Four if Slaughtneil hadn’t been in the All-ireland semifinal? I don’t think they would.

“I know that’s only one case, but I don’t think you should be punished for your club being successful. That’s ultimately what happens, because you just miss out on it.”