Three fine players deemed ineligible due to farcical rule

ISURVEYED a scene from the Innovate Wexford Park press box on Saturday afternoon that maddened and saddened me in equal measure. Shortly before the throw-in for the Eirgrid Leinster Under-20 football championship clash against Dublin, I looked down to the sideline and saw Eoin Porter and Barry O’Connor sporting their ‘maor uisce’ bibs.

Martin O’Connor - the third talented young Wexford footballer ineligible to play in his own grade as a result of lining out with the Seniors in the championship - had left for America on Wednesday, with nothing to keep him at home.

Of all the baffling rules brought in by the G.A.A. over the years, this has to be the most ludicrous of the lot.

In effect, that trio were punished for having the temerity to be good enough to line out at the highest level with their county at such a young age.

Porter hadn’t featured with the Seniors during the league, but he made his full inter-county debut as a 45th-minute substitute for Ben Brosnan in the loss to Laois. The Rathgarogue-Cushinstown clubman was retained at full-back for the Waterford game and, including additional time at the end of halves, he was involved in 129 minutes of Senior football in total.

He didn’t play any Under-20 at all, because that Laois game was prior to his own grade’s opener away to Westmeath.

As for Martin O’Connor, the HWH-Bunclody lad did line out that evening in Mullingar, and against Longford, but he wasn’t allowed to figure against Dublin after coming on at half-time for the Seniors versus Waterford and playing 41 minutes, including additional time, at that level.

The case of Barry O’Connor is particularly harsh. Shortly after giving the best individual display of the league by a Wexford footballer away to Derry, the St. Martin’s stalwart sustained a broken thumb and endured a long spell on the sidelines.

He made his comeback in the Under-20 win versus Longford, coming off the bench at half-time to score 1-1. Sadly, the 28 minutes he subsequently spent on the field for the Seniors against Waterford debarred him from Saturday’s encounter with Dublin.

While this rule appears harsh in the extreme, incredibly it was even more restrictive originally before being relaxed somewhat at Congress.

Prior to that, it stated that any player on a match-day squad of 26 for a Senior championship game couldn’t play Under-20. That was altered to only include those who actually spent time in action on the field, removing an idiotic scenario whereby a young player might have got no game-time whatsoever in either grade.

Thankfully the amended rule wasn’t back-dated to take in those who played Senior championship football in 2017. If that had been the case, Wexford would also have lost centre-back Ronan Devereux and centre-forward Mikie Dwyer.

I’ve seen enough of Porter over the years to reckon that his presence in Mullingar might have been enough to tip the scales in Wexford’s favour, and that would have put an entirely different complexion on proceedings before Saturday’s game.

In the interest of balance though, I should point out that Westmeath had lost the services of their Under-20 captain, Finbar Coyne, two days earlier when he came on for the Seniors against Laois.

All this rule does is increase the gap between the stronger and weaker counties. The competition has replaced the much-loved straight knockout Under-21 which had no restrictions on player eligibility apart from the obvious age limit.

It is apparently meant to be about development, and clearly some geniuses think that by excluding Senior players, it will give others a chance to wear the county jersey. That’s not what football should be about at inter-county level.

Surely the only way a county like Wexford can develop is by having all of their players available to them in the Under-20 grade, regardless of Senior involvement.

If this rule isn’t re-visited and removed, is there any point in taking part at all?