GAA to act on burn-out of young stars

KERRY coach Jack O’Connor led calls last night for a radical reform of the colleges GAA calendar amid fears that the inter-county stars of the future are heading for burn-out by the time they turn 20.

O’Connor revealed he did not consider defender Jonathan Lyne and attacker Daithí Casey for tomorrow night’s glamour Allianz Football League against Dublin in Croke Park because they could be facing seven top level games in 16 days.

Central to the spring crux is next week’s Sigerson Cup, which could see top players tog out three times in as many days. O’Connor’s call for the Sigerson and Fitzgibon Cups to move to a pre-Christmas slot in the GAA calendar comes on the day that president Christy Cooney revealed to the Irish Examiner that he has appointed his predecessor, Nickey Brennan to head up a task force on the future for third-level competitions.