GPA chief Parsons suggests provincial hurling exhibition around Adare Manor Ryder Cup 

CEO of the Gaelic Players Association Tom Parsons. Pic: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

Gaelic Players Association chief Tom Parsons has suggested an exhibition hurling game between Munster and Leinster around next year's Ryder Cup in Limerick.

Parsons isn't a fan of the idea floated by the GAA of holding back the NHL Division 1A final until September 2027, to grab a piece of the international focus that will be on the region for the ties between Europe and the US.

He said a National League decider is 'a significant fixture' and that it won't be possible to just 'rock up the weekend before, do a training session and play'.

The former Mayo midfielder said that players have indicated they would need to train 'at least two or three times a week for the full month of August in preparation for that fixture'.

He also cited the 'huge disruption on the club season', claiming that county players would be 'totally distracted', with a knock-on effect for 'thousands of other members' around them, as well as the likelihood of requiring a midweek date for the fixture.

"I'm surprised that got out in the public domain, and how far it got," said Parsons of the League final idea which was initially revealed by the Irish Examiner. "The GPA aren't against a fixture in the lead up to the Ryder Cup.

"A more obvious one would be a provincial, Munster versus Leinster type fixture. Players who want to, put their hands up to play and maybe their clubs are knocked out early from the group stages and a fixture like that is doable in terms of maybe meeting up the week before.

"So players are open to doing something but they're the key stakeholders, they need to be engaged with. It's an interesting concept. It's interesting for the GPA, as the representative body for players, to hear concepts being designed and talked about without agreement from the players."

Parsons was speaking at a media event to highlight the launch of the GPA's annual report for 2025. On Monday evening, the players body held its AGM and nine separate motions were passed, all dealing in the main with player welfare issues.

One of those recommends that all inter-county fixture making bodies consult with 'player representatives' in future, to make sure issues like last week's Leinster senior camogie final debacle don't happen.

Parsons said he was surprised that more hadn't been made of the fact that the provincial decider, between Wexford and Dublin, which was initially staged for last Sunday in Mullingar, was pulled forward to last Friday evening in Carlow, just days out from the game.

Wexford eventually beat Dublin after extra time though Parsons said the episode showed 'total scant disregard for players', many of whom had to apply for a day off work at short notice.

GPA co-chair Aishling Maher played for Dublin in the game and scored nine points.

"It left girls going into work on Wednesday morning looking for annual leave for less than 48 hours later," said Maher. "For me, I wasn't in a position to take annual leave, just with management off in my own company. I drove to Carlow on Friday morning before I started work, we got a hotel room in Carlow and I worked in Carlow for the day."

Maher was seated next to Tyrone football goalkeeper Niall Morgan, also a GPA co-chair, when she was speaking.

"If Niall was in the same position with an Ulster final, there would have been a little more said about the whole thing," she claimed.

Parsons said that after last year's skorts controversy, 'you would think they would have learned'.

Maher said the explanation from camogie officials was that an U-23 championship game was taking place last Sunday, so the senior game had to be shifted forward.

Parsons also addressed the motion on 'additional support for first year panellists' with county squads. He suggested that, as part of the GAA's new inter-county licensing system, that season-long squads be drawn up at the start of each year.

Another of the motions pertained to improving the expenses situation for ladies footballers and camogie players.

They want to be reimbursed monthly, 'rather than the existing system of payment in two instalments' throughout the year. The bigger picture is integration of the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Associations, which is still planned for 2027.

Parsons floated a figure of EUR10m which could, potentially, meet the minimum requirements of LGFA and Camogie players around expenses and entitlements.

"One potential pot that we looked at was, what would a pot of EUR10m over two years deliver? And it delivers very closely to equal minimum standards," he said.