Paddy Kelly: Cork have one hand tied behind their back but are not strait-jacketed

The April fools were the GAA clubs which believed ‘club month’ would be a ring-fenced opportunity to inject momentum back into the grassroots. Our new columnist Paddy Kelly believes the first step towards correcting the Association’s biggest headache is to hand April back to the inter-county scene. Now read on...

So how was the GAA’s first ever club month of April for you? And will it be the last? Such has been the criticism of its purpose and implementation from all sides it would be wise to take stock and ask ourselves for whom exactly does the new fixture calendar work?

For the best part of a decade, I was like every other inter-county player who hardly played a league game for my club, showed up for training on the Tuesday of championship in early May and promptly vanished again until the Tuesday before the next round, more often than not in August. Playing alongside two of my brothers in Ballincollig meant I was acutely aware of the frustrations and unfairness the ordinary club player faced during the summer.