Players on Tyrone panel 'genuinely struggling with the financial side' of being an inter-county player

Niall Morgan said if he was starting out as an inter-county player now, the financial cost would force him to push back his Tyrone career for several years. 

Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan questioned if young inter-county players can afford the commitment required. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Niall Morgan says the financial toll of inter-county activity is so great now that if he were 20 again and starting out, he'd have to knock back Tyrone until he could afford to play.

The All-Star goalkeeper and All-Ireland medallist turned his back on a part-time soccer wage in the Irish League to play for Tyrone in 2013 and has represented them since.

But speaking at the launch of a report which highlighted how county players are left with a EUR4,602 expenses tab each year, he said it would be a different scenario if he was starting out now.

Morgan doubles as co-chair of the Gaelic Players Association and, worryingly, said that there are players on the Tyrone squad currently who are 'genuinely struggling with the financial side of things'.

Morgan said it has got to a point where he isn't sure 'whether the young players in particular, but also the older players, can afford to give up so much'.

Asked if he would make a different decision if he was 20 now and weighing up whether to play semi-professional soccer or compete for Tyrone, Morgan nodded.

"Yeah, absolutely," he said. "I know that now I couldn't afford to be a student and to play county football when on the other hand I'd got an Irish League wage and, being a number one goalkeeper, I know I'd be able to afford a better life if I was playing soccer.

"I actually have that written down here in my notes for today - if I was to be in the same position, at 20 years of age I think I was when I was asked (to join Tyrone), I think I would be pushing it back at least four years. I'd be saying, 'You know what, I'll finish university and then I'll revisit this'. I know as a student, I wouldn't have been able to afford this now."

GPA national executive committee co-chair Niall Morgan at a media briefing on Wednesday. Pic: ©INPHO/Andrew Conan

Morgan said that, as it was, he had to work a couple of evenings a week in a bookmakers and to play soccer for Dungannon Swifts to put himself through college.

"If it was now, sitting as the 20-year-old, rent in Belfast is now nearly double what I was paying and then food, the costs have gone through the roof," he noted. 

"As a county player, I started off at 10-and-a-half stone, which obviously wouldn't work now. I was getting steak for breakfast, steak for lunch, steak for dinner and thankfully Mum and Dad were helping with a lot of the cost for that.

"The younger players now, people ask are they willing to give so much? And my question is can they afford to give so much?

"I suppose the big thing I would say too is there are players on our squad, as our player rep, that are genuinely struggling with the financial side of things and students are the most vulnerable within that.

"The cost of living, cars, insurance, rent, everything has gone up for everybody. For the new players coming up, like, eating steak three times a day to gain weight! One protein shake a day doesn't suffice to make up all the extra calories."

Dublin camogie player Aisling Maher said it's a similar story for the 2024 All-Ireland semi-finalists, arguing that 'it's getting more and more inaccessible to players'.