Antrim boss Andy McEntee has been lamenting the long inter-county summers of old, which are now a thing of the past due to the split-season.
In past years, the GAA calendar was centred around September All-Ireland finals, but now the Championship wraps up by the end of the July, to allow players to have a break before focusing on their club season.
The split-season has proven popular with players, for reasons such as being able to book holidays without the club campaign creeping up on them. For McEntee though, inter-county players are now at greater risk of injury due to the split-season.
Andy McEntee not in favour of split-season
"From a county player’s perspective, the split season is damaging," said the ex-Meath manager, ahead of his side's Ulster SFC opener against Down.
"I think what most county managers are finding is that players go through the leagues and championship with their county, then they play with their clubs when they might be carrying a few knocks.
"They end up having to play and maybe clubs don’t have the money to look after them like they would be in a county set-up. They come back to us at the start of the year and they are not able for it, they are not able for the workload and they break down. That is certainly the case.
“With us, ACLs are ACLs and everyone has their theory on that, I am not a medical person but they are unfortunate. There just seems to be too many of them and it is not just Antrim, it is nationwide.”
8 April 2023; Antrim manager Andy McEntee before the Ulster GAA Football Senior Championship preliminary round match between Armagh and Antrim at Box-It Athletic Grounds in Armagh. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
GAA have "given summer away"
McEntee also misses the longer inter-county summers and feels that the current format means that people are enjoying other sports at a time of year when they would have once flocked to GAA grounds with the sun on their backs.
"We haven given away the summer to other sports in a competitive arena, we have given away the summer, June, July, August and September were Gaelic games months and now you are rushing everything into the first six months.
"You got arguably the best games that will be played all year being played in the snow, sleet, frost and rain when nobody wants to go to them. Why? Because the weather is too bloody cold.”
Whatever about complaints from supporters or managers like McEntee, it looks like the split-season is here to stay, for the next few years at least.
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