Balance is crucial to O’Rourke

FORMER Monaghan manager Malachy O’Rourke has called on the GAA to strike the right balance as club v county tensions rise.

Club fixtures can begin from 17 July while intercounty competitions will not resume until 17 October and their collective training is supposed to be banned until 14 September.

“There is a good window there as long as clubs do get access and county teams don’t come in on that too much,” he said.

“I can only speak for my own experience but I wouldn’t say you dictate anything in a county but the bar has been set so high at inter-county level that you want to get as much access to the players as you can.

“The county managers do value clubs but it’s just everyone trying to do the best for themselves.”

O’Rourke believes that long-standing imbalances between the likes of the Ulster and Munster championships will be exacerbated under the knockout system that will be in place in football this year – Monaghan have to win four games to reach an All-Ireland semi-final compared to two for Cork or Kerry.

“It’s a very tricky situation that the GAA found themselves in. Some teams are going to have a much more difficult run if they want to get a prolonged stay in the Championship than others,” O’Rourke said.

“You couldn’t say it’s entirely fair but at this stage maybe it was all that could be put on the table.

“There’s no doubt there will be hiccups along the way but it’s great to have that carrot in front of us that there is the chance of football.”

TOMMIE KENOY has predicted that a move towards semiprofessionalism in the GAA is the ‘next crisis around the corner’.

The ultra experienced official, who has chaired the Roscommon county board, acknowledged

Gaelic Players Association chief Paul Flynn’s (left) clarification last winter that pay-for-play isn’t on their agenda.

Kenoy said: “The fixtures situation is the current crisis – the next crisis coming, and mark my words on this, is the threat of some form of semiprofessionalism in the game. That’s the next crisis around the corner.

“We’ve heard the GPA talk about their commitment to the amateur status rule and they’ve said that publicly but they’ve also said their policy

Mattock Rangers of Louth back training this week and, above, Kenoy of CPA (middle) and Briody on that matter would be guided by the wishes of their members. “That’s a worrying statement from the GPA. The top players would gravitate towards that. It would completely undermine the GAA as we know it.”

MANAGING Monaghan boss Malachy O’Rourke