GAELIC GAMES:CORK MANAGER Conor Counihan has defended the calendar-year season and disagreed with the proposal that the GAA reschedule NFL matches to before Christmas.

Speaking at the launch of this year’s Allianz Leagues (as the competitions have been rebranded for this, the 19th year of the sponsorship) in Croke Park, Counihan, who managed his team to both the NFL and All-Ireland titles in 2010, was asked whether he wanted to see the competition reverting to the autumn start.

“No,” he replied, “I think the current format is good. I played in the old system where you used to start in October and I just don’t think it worked. There was no continuity.

“You are in there at the start of January and you are moving on. In terms of the shut down in November and December, a lot has been made of that and I can understand it from the point of view of the teams that are knocked out in the early rounds of the championship. But you are expecting players to follow an individual programme.”

Roscommon have submitted a motion on the subject for inclusion in this year’s clár at annual congress in Mullingar next April.

Questioned on the same subject, GAA president Christy Cooney said he didn’t want to comment on anything that may come before congress.

This will be the 11th season of the calendar-year NFL and any attempt to restructure the competition would entail major changes, including to the inter-county training ban in November and December.

Counihan also said he was happy there would be no rules experimentation during this season’s campaign but denied he was happy with the rule book as it stands, saying the GAA should take further steps to improve the assessment of referees.

“No, we’re not saying that at all. We need to go back and look at some things but we need to do it through the third-level competitions like the McGrath Cup. No I don’t think it is perfect and there needs to be a lot of work done.

“The biggest thing for us is from a refereeing perspective; we would like to see consistency whereby assessors need to be assessed whereby if you get a video of a game and ask the 10 assessors to assess it, are you getting consistency across the board?

That is the challenge for the Association in terms of getting consistency across the board.”

One of the other issues raised during the media launch was the worsening economic situation and its impact on players.

Whereas Meath manager Séamus McEnaney was able to report that all of his panel were employed, Counihan named a number of first-team players, who are seeking jobs.

“Paul Kerrigan is out of work at the minute. Donncha (O’Connor) is out of work. Alan O’Connor is struggling to find work. So again, it’s a big challenge. People talk about pressure.

“There’s pressure on us all. If I told you guys in the morning that you didn’t have a job to go to, that’s when there is real pressure.

“Hopefully, we can do something. It’s a big county. The three individuals would be very dedicated in what they do.”

A year ago Cork won their first Division One title in 11 years and went on to add the All-Ireland in September.

At yesterday’s launch in Croke Park, it was emphasised on a number of occasions that the correlation between spring and summer success has become particularly strong in recent year.

During the period of the calendar-year structure, the league-championship double has been achieved on five occasions in 10 seasons. Throughout the previous 10 years it happened only once.

Counihan was asked had he considered stepping down after the success of last year, coming at the end of his third season as manager.

“Inevitably, people will say get out while you’re ahead. But for me, that isn’t what it is about. At the end of the day, you get involved because you enjoy it and number two, you have the commitment of the players and you feel that there is more in them. That’s the motivation for staying.”

“I hope there is more there. I don’t know. It all depends on the attitude. We will be there or thereabouts. If you had a crystal ball, you would know. If you have the right attitude and the right commitment, you will be right up there to compete.”