Meehan: GAA 'have casual approach to concussion'

By Peter McNamara, @PeterMcNamara_

The GAA have been criticised for their lackadaisical attitude to implementing player concussion protocols and ex-Galway attacker Michael Meehan has vehemently stated the “casual approach” to occurrences such as these within the Association needs to be stamped out immediately.

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Granted, Tyrone GAA chiefs later denied that was the case however, Meehan is less than impressed with the implementation of the protocols associated with concussions.

“Protocols, in my view, should be black or white,” Meehan, a gifted forward, said. “There should be no margin for error at all in these cases.

“Every team has a doctor and if a player has suffered concussion and cannot play he should be replaced, no questions asked. Concussion is certainly not an area you can take risks with.

“The GAA, as a whole though, has a casual approach to things like this."

The former Galway forward did acknowledge that this was not intentional on the GAA's behalf.

Michael Meehan during his playing days for Galway in 2013. Photo: Sportsfile

He said: “It is not intentionally casual, of course, but casual nonetheless even though I know they are beginning to become more conscious of this.

“Players, managements and medical staff are all aware of the gravity of a situation that can arise from concussions or even double-concussions in quick succession, the outcomes of these things you just cannot comprehend.

“I would be advocating that the GAA are very, very strict on concussion rulings in particular. We could take a leaf out of the rugby’s books on this topic.

“Okay, situations like Jonny Sexton’s recently were extreme in ways but it was handled well and it is better to be safe than sorry anyway.”

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And the Caltra clubman was enthused by what he saw of Kevin Walsh’s charges.

“I certainly was happy with Galway’s overall performance against Meath.

“Galway can be happy with many of their passages of play in that game but like every other team, they will be seeking that consistency of performance when away to Westmeath this Sunday.

“Westmeath, though, with the likes of John Heslin and Ray Connellan, will, equally, be looking to build on their victory against Laois so it should be a decent contest,” he explained.

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Meehan agreed, however, that even under a new management duo of Noel Connolly and Pat Holmes, Mayo have no option but to blaze a trail from day one this year.

“They have to hit the ground running, definitely,” Meehan stressed. “Mayo did well to go to Kerry and win though.

“With the new lads involved and the fact, like most teams it must be said, that others were not available, it was important they showed a high level of performance and they seemed to do just that.

“Alan Freeman and Michael Conroy were very impressive and, despite the fact Mayo have that new management structure they do not seem to have lost much ground.”

Arguably, the game of the coming weekend is the meeting of Dublin and Donegal at Croke Park on Saturday night in a repeat of the All-Ireland semi-final last year which, of course, the latter unit won.

Meehan has a slight fancy for Dublin on this occasion, however.

“Dublin will not want to lose two games in a row in the league.

“I can see Dublin really focusing in on this match, especially after losing to Donegal last year and I would expect them to shade a game in which the margins, again, might be quite tight,” he added.