DECLAN BONNER, the Donegal Under-21 manager, isn’t in favour of the changes made to underage inter-county championships at GAA Congress at the weekend.
From 2018, the under-21 grade will be lowered to under-20s with the minor grade as it stands, played at under-18 level, has been changed to an under-17 competition.
The switching of the ages was a ground breaking decision at Congress in Carlow and made on the back of motion 4, brought to Congress by Central Council in an attempt to address a problem of player burnout.
“They’ve just moved the goal posts but they’ve not actually corrected the problem,” was how Bonner (pictured above) assessed the decisions.
Players involved in senior inter-county teams will not be permitted to play in the new under-20 grade, which will be played between June and August. There will be no replays in the competition and a sudden-death free-taking shoot-out will determine a winner if teams are level at the end of extra-time.
Bonner said: “We’re now going to be in a situation where a player who is in the senior team unable to play at under-20 level. That’s not going to do much for player development.
“When players are showing now at minors they’re drafted into the senior ranks. They’re still developing at that stage, but they’ll miss out now on that under-20 level.”
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