Dublin players support GPA proposal to overhaul football structures

"For me, is an absolute no-brainer," says Kevin McManamon, one of three Dublin All-Ireland winners to give his backing to the GPA's new football competition proposal.

"I say give us more games, in Croke Park, down the country, wherever," adds Bernard Brogan.

And for James McCarthy, who like Brogan and McManamon resumes club duty this weekend, less than two weeks after Dublin’s All-Ireland triumph, it’s “definitely a step in the right direction”.

Even without going into the detail of the GPA proposal, the least they expect to get from it is some sort of proper breather after the All-Ireland.

McCarthy’s club Ballymun Kickhams face St Vincent’s in a last 16 knockout of the Dublin championship on Saturday evening, as does McManamon’s club, St Judes (against St Brigid’s), while Brogan’s club Plunketts-Eoghan Ruadh are out this evening (against Raheny).

Tough game

“That’s a very tough game,” McCarthy says of the Ballymun-St Vincent’s clash.

“In some ways it’s great to come back to such a big game. We’ve a great rivalry. I’d be good friends with Diarmuid Connolly and Ger Brennan, and now we’re trying to knock lumps out of them. But it’s a big game for the club. We lost the final to Vincent’s two years ago, in the replay.

“But really the big problem is the length of the season. We all want more games, and less training. Games every two weeks I’d say would be great. Because burn-out too is more mental, not physical. You don’t get burnt out from playing the games. It’s from all the training. So this is definitely a step in the right direction. Everyone is talking about it. We just need change.

Brogan concurs: “My two gripes are the length of the season, and the need for more games of importance. And I wouldn’t do that by taking away games. I’d say give us more games, in Croke Park, down the country, wherever.

“It’s about extra time to recover at the end of the year, to go away for a holiday, or whatever. I think the GPA have made a good stab at it.

For McManamon, the GPA proposal would benefit both club and county players.

“I’d be open to change, definitely. I think a nine-month season, give club players three months, give us six, and then have your bit of time off. I’m involved in a lot of other sports and I’d love for a couple of months to try and play something else, and then just come back, this is when your season is starting, then go at it from there. But anything that makes the season shorter is good for me.

“So I think a lot of it could be whipped down. There were four weeks between games at times, and it’s just too long so I’d like to see smaller breaks.

“So I’d be open to anything that makes that season shorter, and I think it could be finished by the August Bank Holiday, actually,” added the three-time All-Ireland winner.