Farrell: GPA will still have its power

GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell has rejected suggestions that the players’ body has been left with more bark than bite as a result of its official adoption into the GAA family at Saturday’s Congress.

The GPA has previously dangled the threat of strike action as a means of leverage and it was put to Farrell afterwards that such a ‘nuclear’ option had now been removed from their arsenal given their reliance on Croke Park funding.

Farrell countered: “Our independence is very important to us and our autonomy is enshrined in any interim agreement or future agreement, so that won’t be compromised.