CORK U20 HURLING boss Ben O’Connor has become the latest manager to slam a GAA rule which prohibits players from playing for U20 and senior sides within a seven-day period, labelling it “a pure joke”.
Speaking on TG4 after his Rebels picked up their fourth straight Munster championship victory and eliminated Limerick in the process, O’Connor lamented the fact that his side will likely be without Eoin Downey for their provincial decider and implored the GAA not to “ruin a youngfella’s chance of playing in a Munster final.”
Glen defender Downey, who was rested for tonight’s round-robin encounter in Limerick, will miss out on a senior championship debut against Waterford on Sunday due to his red card in Cork’s league semi-final defeat to Kilkenny. However, he will be expected to feature in Cork’s third senior championship game against Clare on 21 May, which would mean that he would be unable to line out for the U20s in their Munster final six days prior.
Speaking to TG4, O’Connor joined Down U20 football manager Conor Laverty and his Derry equivalent Marty Boyle in criticising the seven-day rule, stating his belief that players such as Downey should be permitted to play at both grades without restriction.
“‘Tis just a pity now we could be without Eoin Downey for the final,” said three-time All-Ireland winner O’Connor. “I’m going to echo what all the other U20 managers have said, and I think it’s a pure joke, like, that a fella can’t play at his own age group. Why not make him, at 20 years of age, play at his own age group when he can play no more? After this year he’s finished with U20s, so why not make him play U20 and not senior? He should be able to play both.
“And I think that’s the common-sense thing: if he’s available and he wants to, he should be left play senior and 20.
‘Don’t be ruining a youngfella’s chance of playing in a Munster final.’
— Gavan Casey (@GavanCasey) April 28, 2023
Good stuff from Cork U20s boss Ben O’Connor on @SportTG4. pic.twitter.com/vBtGrh9Fyo
Do the GAA ever listen? Do they ever listen to anything? There’s no bit of common sense there.
“I’d like to know who voted on this. This vote was done in above and they changed the wording of it after to confuse the whole lot. If you take out the wording of it, there, and you read it, you have to read it 10 times and you still don’t know what’s going on.
Leave U20s play U20 and senior if they’re good enough. Don’t be ruining a youngfella’s chance of playing in a Munster final.
