ROSSA manager Colly Murphy says Antrim’s decision to cram the club championships in before the end of September is “an absolute disgrace”.
The Shaw’s Road men are one of five dual clubs in the senior hurling championship, all of whom will have played a minimum of seven games in 31 days by next Wednesday night.
That might only exacerbate further in the knockout stages, with the hurling semi-finals down for September 5 and the football semi-finals due to be played the following day.
The hurling final is due to be played the following Sunday, September 13, with the football decider a week later.
For a dual club to reach both, they are potentially facing 13 games in 56 days - an average of a game every four days for two months.
Murphy, whose team is two-thirds dual players, believes that the leagues penned in for after the championship will not happen.
From September 26 to November 1, dual clubs are facing six consecutive weekends where they have league games on both Saturday and Sunday.
“I’m just so disappointed in the county. The championship final is on September 13, there was absolutely no need.
“October 14 was the cut-off date for club competitions. There’s going to be no leagues, as far as I’m led to believe.
“If we had been beaten [by Dunloy on Sunday] and Ballycastle had beat St John’s, our season was finished on August 16. I think that’s an absolute disgrace.
“The leagues should never have been pencilled in. The championships should have been extended, more games, and finished at the start of October.
“All for an elite bunch of players, one per cent, and it’s happening throughout Ireland.
“Take the difference between Antrim and Derry, where they’ve shown great leadership, where their chairman says ‘we’re going to play right through to the final date’.
“Who wouldn’t want to watch another five or six of those games, instead of waiting for a league final with Kerry and then into a championship, where we could have had another three or four weeks of club hurling at that level.
“Look at the players today. If [Antrim manager Darren] Gleeson or any county manager was here today, the players on show there that aren’t on county panels was fantastic.
“From September 26, we have five weekends of a senior football match one day and a senior hurling match the next. Who could do that? That’s ten games in five weekends.
“You wouldn’t ask a professional footballer to play two games in 24 hours for five weekends in a row. We’ve nine to 11 dual players, and they’ve already said ‘Colly, we can’t play both days’.
“I’m led to believe the leagues won’t happen, but the championship is carrying on with the final on September 13.
“I think it’s a missed opportunity. For what clubs did this year during the pandemic, they should have been rewarded with more big days.
“There should have been an Ulster championship and an All-Ireland but no, Croke Park decided to go inter-county, which I think is an absolute disgrace.”
Murphy’s side looked to have a stunned Dunloy beaten until the Cuchullain’s conjured up 1-2 in injury-time to snatch a draw that leaves all four teams in group one with something to play for in the final games.
Ballycastle host Rossa while St John’s take on Dunloy next Sunday, but three of those four will have players in football championship action on Wednesday night.
Gregory O’Kane, whose dual players have had an even heavier schedule as the intermediate football championship comprises groups of six meaning they have an extra game, said it’s “absolute punishment” for players.
“If games keep going like this, I don’t know if we’ll have bodies left to play league. Rossa’s the same as ourselves, a dual club, and it’s an absolute punishment.
“We’ve played four rounds of football, games on Wednesday night. Somebody tell me if we’re talking seriously about players’ health and wellbeing, and burnout, why are we playing Wednesday nights when we have weekends?
“It’s hard on the dual players, Rossa, St John’s, ourselves. But we’re still going strong, thank God.”
No official announcement had been made on Antrim leagues at the time of going to print, and The Irish News are awaiting a county board response to our request for further information.
