Kiely fears rule 'penalising our best players'

Limerick's Cathal O’Neill 

Limerick manager John Kiely believes Cathal O’Neill should be allowed to play for Limerick’s U20s against Cork on Wednesday. As a result of being included in the senior panel against Cork, the Crecora-Manister starlet is precluded from lining out for the U20s again unless the senior team are knocked out of their championship before the under-age side.

O’Neill was the difference for Diarmuid Mullins’ side squeaking past Clare in their Round 1 game and Kiely is annoyed that he won’t be able to represent both teams in the coming weeks. “It’s disappointing that we’re penalising our best players. We could make this work. Managements could make this work in the modern era. We monitor their loads for everything they do: if they go the gym or they’re with the 20s. We can make these things work. It’s a pity they’ve gone down this route because I don’t believe it’s the issue of burnout. If Cathal was playing Wednesday night he wouldn’t be training with us on Tuesday night, clearly. He’d be rested until then and he came on today and played 10, 15 minutes. There’s no reason he couldn’t play on Wednesday night and at the same time not be put in danger of further injury.”