Burn out a key issue for Sean Óg

Cork senior hurler Sean Óg O hAilpín was on hand in IT Carlow to launch this year's Ulster Bank Fitzgibbon Cup competition which begins this week.

Casting his eye back to his playing days in third level, Sean Óg is conscious that player burnout was a key issue for him though he didn't realise it at the time.

"Between 18 and 21 I definitely played ten games too many," he said.

"I don't think there was much awareness of player burnout at the time, more so than there is now. Maybe it was a lack of communication between the people who were in charge of university teams and also the inter-county teams."

The victorious All-Ireland senior captain of 2005 is delighted to see strides being taken to eliminate burnout as much as possible.

"Hopefully there is a system now in every county, and I know that it is there in Cork - where communication takes place between everyone involved," he insisted.

"I know at this time of the year, from a Cork point of view, we don't see Cathal Naughton or any of the other UCC lads.

"We only see them once a week at training, where before they had to do university training and later on that night they would be training with Cork."

O hAilpín believes that he has a lot to thank the Fitzgibbon Cup, for what it done in developing his hurling.

"The Fitzgibbon Cup looked after me a lot in terms of my inter-county development. Participation in that competition gave me the foundations to play for Cork at the highest level," he said.

"Not only am I saying that for myself but also for other players like Joe Deane and Henry Shefflin who have played in the competition and performed to the highest level."

The Division 2 and Division 3 competitions are the Ryan Cup and Fergal Maher Cups respectively and both championships will also be keenly fought in the coming weeks.

Sean Óg remembers Fergal Maher well as a fellow DCU student and is happy that the GAA has commemorated such a talented player.

"I played with Fergal in DCU but unfortunately he died tragically and it is great to know that he is remembered.

"He was everything good about what the GAA represents and it is great that his memory lives on."