KERRY LEGEND Tomás Ó Sé has reiterated his call for a revamp for the U20 football championship because he believes it is being disrespected by the GAA.
The Kerry U20 manager stressed it was not a reaction to their All-Ireland semi-final loss to Sligo at the weekend — he had raised concerns before his first term in charge of the Kingdom some weeks ago — but he firmly believes the grade is not being handled properly.
“We trained very hard, but the situation with fixtures and all that is ridiculous. I don’t get it,” he said after his side bowed out by 1-8 to 0-9 to Sligo at Pearse Stadium.
“It’s probably the most squashed competition, and it’s the only competition in the country that I know of, at club, college or school that I know of that there is no back door.
“Look, that’s not an excuse for out there today. That was knockout football, and we always knew it was going to be knock-out football. Every county is in the same boat, but I do think that this competition is totally, totally disrespected by the GAA,” added Ó Sé.
An U21 All-Ireland winner with Kerry in 1998, he took charge of the county’s U20 side last August and raised his frustration with the format of the competition at a media event prior to their opening Munster championship match against Clare last month.
Munster, Ulster and Connacht operate a knockout system at U20, but a round robin is used in Leinster. Ó Sé noted Kerry entered the competition five weeks after some other counties, with schools and colleges fixtures impacting on availability of players.
Ó Sé stressed he did not wish to take from Sligo’s win, that his comments were not a reaction to the defeat, but he believes the U20 competition needs to be given more respect by the GAA.
“There’s a high above in Sligo at the moment, and it’s huge. This particular group has confidence about them, and they’re well coached, and brought on.
“Any time we have come across Sligo, they’ve always given us plenty of it. They should have beaten us in Tralee in 2009. I’ve just spoken to them inside in the dressing-room, and it’s no good for a county like that to win a semi-final and not follow it through in the final, so you would wish them the very best going forward.”
