McGrath feels colleges getting short-changed

Queen’s manager Anthony McGrath has accused the Ulster Council of failing to protect the interests of the university teams.

Queen’s, St Mary’s and UUJ are competing in the Dr McKenna Cup without their top players, despite a ruling that entitles them to first pick of county panellists. McGrath claimed the provincial council doesn’t care about the plight of the depleted student sides.

“Unfortunately, the Ulster Council seem to care as little as anyone else, they don’t seem to step forward. They need to do something about it now, not next October or November, do something about it now, get this saga sorted out now,” he said following a 17-point defeat to Tyrone.

“If I am being honest, I don’t think anybody cares enough about this. Universities’ priorities is to win the Sigerson Cup.

“And on that basis this cannot be seen as proper preparation for us. Counties only care about their agenda, and that’s fine, if I was in the same position I would do myself.”

McGrath believes the three colleges will have to come together in an attempt to formulate a solution as Joe Kernan, the mediator put in to solve disputes like this, has been ineffective.

“Unfortunately, the three universities have to come together to sort this out because nobody is making a decision and that’s unfortunate.

“Managers have decided, and I have no problem with managers doing this at all, as the governing body of the competition should protect the competition, and the spirit of the competition.”