CORK’S MINOR FOOTBALL goalkeeper is having none of the suggested restructuring of the minor championship.
Colm O’Driscoll will line out between the sticks for tomorrow’s Munster minor final against Kerry, little over two weeks after finishing his Leaving certificate.
But the big goalkeeper is absolutely not in favour of a new U17 competition to facilitate 18-year-olds who are left balancing their exams with a grueling training and match regime.
“There’s been a lot of changes in the GAA, between black cards and Sky Sports and I think they’re kind of half ruining the game because they’re changing it so much.
“Minor level now has been going on for a long time. It’s kind of historical and you can trace back to find out who won it. To to change it now after so much has gone into it, and how it’s so exciting and so competitive to watch and play – I think it’d be a shame.”
Juggling Exams
The Munster minor championship actually began in April, with the semi-finals then taking place less than a month before the beginning of the Leaving certificate exam period.
“I think the players playing there at 18 have a year extra experience of playing the game and I think that if you’re under 17 there’s a lot more pressure on you.”
“To be fair to the management they were very fair to the people doing the Leaving Cert. They gave us time off obviously during the exams and coming up to the exams.
“I’m from Castlehaven and that’s an hour-and-a-half journey to get to the city for training, so it is very time consuming from my point of view.”
Cork overcame Waterford by six points in their semi-final last May, although Kerry go into Sunday as major favourites. Managed by former All-Ireland senior winning manager Jack O’Connor, they defeated Tipperary by 17 points in the other semi-final. Furthermore Kerry school Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne won this year’s Hogan cup.
“We know they’re a good side. There’s been a lot of effort put in there from the start and we know that.
“Jack O’Connor’s experience on the sideline is definitely going to benefit them on the pitch but we’ll be trying to work on ourselves rather than the opposition.”
