MTU boss fears enjoyment is going out of Sigerson for inter-county players

DOUBLE JOBBING: Cork's Tommy Walsh and Sean Meehan celebrate after the McGrath Cup win over Kerry. Both will be in action for MTU Cork in the Sigerson Cup. Pic: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

MTU Cork manager Pat Spratt believes the changes to the inter-county schedule have taken some of the enjoyment out of playing in the Sigerson Cup.

MTU will be backboned by a number of inter-county players including Cork's Rory Maguire, Sean Meehan, and Tommy Walsh along with Tipperary’s Conall Kennedy.

“I think the enjoyment is going out of it for some lads. Especially inter-county lads.

“There’s a lot of pressure on inter-county players now. (They have to) get ready for the National League, the McGrath Cup is on now. Cork are treating that fairly serious to get ready for the Meath game in the first round of the League.

“That all has a huge impact on what we do in the college because we’d have eight or nine players in with Cork. So when we go out to play challenge games you’re probably playing with six or seven of what you think might be your Sigerson team.” 

With the split season having brought the start of the inter-county season forward to early January, Spratt says it is difficult for any college to get all their players on the field together.

“We haven’t had the inter-county lads because they’ve been all locked into the county squads. So they’re being released back in now this week.

“We’ve to integrate them back into a system now and into a style of play and hopefully the thing will gel together.

“It hasn’t been easy and I don’t think it has been easy for any college. It’s a split season, but it’s (the Sigerson) been thrown in there really.” 

Spratt is still quietly confident his side can topple UCD in their Sigerson Cup first round clash on Tuesday evening.

“We’d be quietly confident going into the UCD game. It’s a big game, UCD were in the league final so we’re not being overconfident but we feel that we’ve a very good chance.

“Our preparation has gone quite well, we’ve had a lot of good games the last couple of weeks against other colleges and clubs that are playing in the All-Ireland club championships.” 

The winner of the clash will face the winners of University of Galway, who won the Sigerson last year and Maynooth University, who beat UCD in the League final this season.

Spratt is hoping for a large home turnout to help his side overcome the odds.

“Last year we’d maybe 4000 up there for the UCC game. It was jam-packed. If we get even half of that crowd we’d be absolutely thrilled because there’s a fantastic atmosphere in the stadium. And it would be nice for the boys to play in front of a crowd.

“It’s a very interesting game, it’s going to be a right good game. If we get people down there it might help get us over the line.”