THE KERRY AND Roscommon U20 managers have both expressed their frustration at the midweek scheduling of their All-Ireland semi-final.
Extra-time was required to determine a winner between their sides in Semple Stadium on Wednesday night, as Kerry eventually prevailed by 3-17 to 0-17.
Kerry boss Tomás Ó Sé said that while he was delighted with the result, he also called on the GAA to give their upcoming final against Tyrone “the respect it deserves” and refrain from scheduling the game midweek.
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“I just hope that the GAA do the right thing now and give the final date the respect it deserves,” he told Radio Kerry.
“We had six lads sitting exams. One lad had to defer it into August because he was sitting it at four o’clock. That’s wrong. We talk about wellbeing for players, it’s an All-Ireland final. You have two teams from one end of the country to the other and there’s a huge amount of travelling.
“That game cannot be played midweek so I don’t know what they’re going to do with it but they’d want to show a bit of respect to lads and take that into account.”
Roscommon manager Cian Smith echoed those sentiments, explaining that his team was also impacted by personnel losses due to college exams.
“It’s absolutely disgraceful that it’s on a Wednesday night. It’s absolutely crazy.
“This is supposed to be the second… Premier competition. It’s one thing playing in a Connacht championship round-robin on a Wednesday night, no problem at all. But for ourselves and Kerry to come down here on a Wednesday night, we had two guys who couldn’t tog for us because we were doing exams in college.
“It’s absolutely scandalous for players, for supporters and for management. At the end of the day, we’re all volunteers. We all have day jobs. We all have to take half days. The GAA needs to really think about promoting it.
“Obviously, the issue is senior players playing with U20 squads. But at the end of the day, you’re either an U20 [player] or you’re a senior. You play a senior for long enough.”
Kerry’s Ó Sé also mentioned star forward Tomás Kennedy who finished the semi-final with 1-3 in a brilliant display. Kennedy is in the midst of a breakthrough season with the Kerry seniors this year, and started their Munster final victory over Cork last weekend where he kicked two frees.
Ó Sé explained that Kennedy was carrying an injury into the U20 semi-final and is hopeful that senior manager Jack O’Connor will permit the emerging talent to be fully available for the preparations ahead of the U20 final.
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“We didn’t know coming up was Tomás Kennedy going to be ok or not? And I must give him great credit, he’s been absolutely brilliant. It would be great if Jack would give him to us between here and the final and let us prepare away. But we’ll see how we go with that.”
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'Absolutely scandalous' - Roscommon and Kerry U20 managers slam semi-final scheduling
THE KERRY AND Roscommon U20 managers have both expressed their frustration at the midweek scheduling of their All-Ireland semi-final.
Extra-time was required to determine a winner between their sides in Semple Stadium on Wednesday night, as Kerry eventually prevailed by 3-17 to 0-17.
Kerry boss Tomás Ó Sé said that while he was delighted with the result, he also called on the GAA to give their upcoming final against Tyrone “the respect it deserves” and refrain from scheduling the game midweek.
“I just hope that the GAA do the right thing now and give the final date the respect it deserves,” he told Radio Kerry.
“We had six lads sitting exams. One lad had to defer it into August because he was sitting it at four o’clock. That’s wrong. We talk about wellbeing for players, it’s an All-Ireland final. You have two teams from one end of the country to the other and there’s a huge amount of travelling.
“That game cannot be played midweek so I don’t know what they’re going to do with it but they’d want to show a bit of respect to lads and take that into account.”
Roscommon manager Cian Smith echoed those sentiments, explaining that his team was also impacted by personnel losses due to college exams.
“It’s absolutely disgraceful that it’s on a Wednesday night. It’s absolutely crazy.
“This is supposed to be the second… Premier competition. It’s one thing playing in a Connacht championship round-robin on a Wednesday night, no problem at all. But for ourselves and Kerry to come down here on a Wednesday night, we had two guys who couldn’t tog for us because we were doing exams in college.
“It’s absolutely scandalous for players, for supporters and for management. At the end of the day, we’re all volunteers. We all have day jobs. We all have to take half days. The GAA needs to really think about promoting it.
“Obviously, the issue is senior players playing with U20 squads. But at the end of the day, you’re either an U20 [player] or you’re a senior. You play a senior for long enough.”
Kerry’s Ó Sé also mentioned star forward Tomás Kennedy who finished the semi-final with 1-3 in a brilliant display. Kennedy is in the midst of a breakthrough season with the Kerry seniors this year, and started their Munster final victory over Cork last weekend where he kicked two frees.
Ó Sé explained that Kennedy was carrying an injury into the U20 semi-final and is hopeful that senior manager Jack O’Connor will permit the emerging talent to be fully available for the preparations ahead of the U20 final.
“We didn’t know coming up was Tomás Kennedy going to be ok or not? And I must give him great credit, he’s been absolutely brilliant. It would be great if Jack would give him to us between here and the final and let us prepare away. But we’ll see how we go with that.”
Additional reporting by Kevin Egan
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