Inter-county managers call for pre-season competitions to be reinstated 

Pádraic Joyce, Kieran Donnelly and Paul Shankey all believe that the competitions are needed to allow teams become properly acquainted with Gaelic football's incoming new rules. 

At the launch Allianz Inter-Provincial Football Series: Dessie Dolan, Leinster manager, Padraic Joyce, Connacht manager, Kieran Donnelly, Ulster manager, and Paul Shankey, Munster selector. Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Three inter-county football managers have lamented the GAA’s decision to scrap the pre-season competitions.

Kieran Donnelly (Fermanagh), Pádraic Joyce (Galway) and Paul Shankey (Waterford), who are responsible for interprovincial teams in this Friday and Saturday’s Allianz Football Review Committee-organised interprovincial tournament in Croke Park, would like the January competitions returned for 2025 so that their teams can experiment and become more acquainted to the experimental rules.

Following a Gaelic Players Association motion on the grounds of player welfare, Central Council last month chose to disband them for a season, but the call has not been received well by managers like Cork’s John Cleary and Sligo’s Tony McEntee.

FRC member, former Mayo manager, James Horan last week condemned the move. Joining the chorus, Fermanagh boss Donnelly said he wants to see the McKenna Cup restored.

“I hope it isn't because it's a perfect environment. The McKenna Cup is a brilliant competition in Ulster. I think we would rate it highly and it's always fairly competitive.

“You couldn't get a better chance to judge it. Along with this. Even the fact that it's early in January and you have a two-week window after it to assess it to see how it leads into the national league and then maybe tailor it from that.” 

Galway manager Joyce said the Connacht League had been a great competition for his set-up and for it to be “completely taken away from us” without consulting managers was “very disappointing”.

He remarked: “We're all trying to have these development squads in place. We had one last year, they played the FBD, lads got some great game time out of it. They got to wear a Galway jersey, their families got to go see them playing for Galway, their clubs got to see them playing.

“That's been taken away from them, whereas in Division 1, (that) we're in, you can't afford to be trialling out lads in the first couple of games there because the league is so competitive, you want to try and stay in Division 1. It's disappointing they're gone, to be honest.” 

Meath native Shankey bemoaned the loss of quality pre-season games in the McGrath Cup. 

“That was a great place to see lads in competitive games and also this year it would have been brilliant with the new rules.

“It made more sense to keep it, so now we have a scenario where we have to try and get challenge matches. That’s the bit I’d like reassessed but I don’t think that is going to be reassessed.

"We're down in the south-east so it's difficult (to arrange games). That's why I really liked the McGrath Cup last year (season). We got two games against Clare and Cork, Division 2 opposition, to see where the lads are.”