Whelahan criticises rules over U20 players

Offaly hurling legend Brian Whelahan has expressed his opposition to existing rules around Under 20 players not being able to also play at senior level.

Whelahan was speaking to the The GAA Minor Moments podcast.

Brian disagrees with Under 20s not being able to play senior calling it "absolute nonsense” and believes that such a rule "shouldn't be in our game".

"I don't think they have an idea what they're talking about," Whelahan said of the GAA rule. “If they think a player is being protected by not allowing them play U-20 and playing senior then they are grossly mistaken.

"They're training anyway, you can be sure they are playing games so it's not as if they are being rested in any format.

"And for the GAA to bring in a rule that prohibits a player playing in their last year at any underage grade, because they are good enough to play senior is in my opinion very detrimental to the development of that player because it is his one opportunity.

"You can't roll back the year. When you're underage you're gearing towards minor, when you're finished that you're gearing towards U-20, in my time it was U-21, that was your huge priority because you only had a number of years to play that.

"For the GAA to make a rule that you can't play because you're playing senior, that's not right and it shouldn't be in our game."

"Not all of those players on an U-20 team go on to play senior and it prohibits them from getting that U-20 medal, that could be the height of their inter-county career. It's wrong, it's wrong," he stressed.

On the podcast, he also goes into depth about the famous year of 1998 and how Offaly arrived late for the second game of the trilogy and how it nearly derailed the team.

He talks about the influence of managers' throughout his career especially his father Pad Joe who uniquely managed him at minor, under 21 and team in 1989.

Brian talks about growing up in Birr, where everything revolved around hurling and how a culture of winning from school and club, including Feile, forged teams for the ages.

For more information on the GAA Minor Moments podcast, brought to you by Electric Ireland, go to https://www.electricireland.ie/gaa-minor-championships#podcast

Also on spotify Listen here https://open.spotify.com/episode/2543ibSnoTxoLHtuCXQMZX?si=0AEhJwo8RSqZvsql1Qc4jA