Maughan concern as students face ever-increasing workload

Forcing young GAA players to cram their third-level commitments and inter-county training into their schedules at this time of year has been described as “grossly unfair” by a leading manager.

Former inter-county boss John Maughan, who is currently in charge of the senior footballers of NUI Galway, is preparing his side for tomorrow night’s FBD Connacht League final against Mayo in Castlebar.

With the Sigerson Cup also getting under way next Tuesday, Maughanbelieves the pressure being heaped on his young players has become almost too much to bear.

“The one thing I would be concerned about is the workload on these young players,” he said. “We trained last Thursday and I had to leave four players out. They had come through a tremendously hard session with their county the night before and just weren’t ready for more.

“We have young players in our Sigerson Cup squad who are mixing our training with inter-county sessions where they are doing a training programme that’s alien to the championship football they’re playing at Sigerson level at this time of year.

“I really can’t understand that and I think it’s grossly unfair on young players to force them into such a position.”

NUI Galway begin their Sigerson Cup campaign against St Mary’s, Belfast next week and have their sights set on reaching the quarter-finals weekend as they are also hosting the closing stages of the competition next month.

With that in mind, Maughan is taking a pragmatic approach to tomorrow night’s meeting with Mayo. He said: “Our focus is firmly fixed on St Mary’s in the Sigerson Cup next week.”