Kieran McGeeney: Let’s not kid ourselves with ‘elite’ tag

Kieran McGeeney says GAA players should not assume they are elite athletes just because they train several nights a week.

The Armagh manager believes a chaotic fixture calendar is more responsible for player burnout than excessive training and while he has sympathy for the country’s top young players who face constant demands from third-level, U21 and senior county teams, the rest he feels are not over-worked.

“I still can’t see where GAA players train that hard, despite what people may say. Any other sport trains much harder. If you look at a rower, a swimmer, a cyclist in this country. We are all competing at an amateur level.