Kerry's Killian Young believes the lead-in time to the All-Ireland semi-final is ludicrously long and says it's time the GAA addressed the issue of fixture schedules.
Since the start of the championship, Kerry have played just three times – Clare (twice) and Tipperary. Now they must wait another month for a last four outing.
“I’ve been playing with Kerry for over a decade and I definitely thought in my time that we would see a change in the structure of the way the GAA set up,” said Young.
“When you see the attendance there for two quarter-finals, you’d be expecting a lot more. You could hear us shouting and roaring and call for the ball down on the field.”
He would like to see the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) use their congress proposal to call for a change to the championship next year.
“That’ll be very important for the welfare of the players. The reason that we play the game is because we love it. Over my time with Kerry, the ratio over how many times I trained versus games is frightening. You need to have a certain amount of training but it is all about games. That’s the joy of it.”
But Young accepts there is plenty to work on in training as Kerry prepare to face either Dublin or Donegal.
Though the Kingdom were comfortable winners over Clare, the primary concern now is to work hard to iron out the flaws exposed last Sunday.
“The main thing was to get the result and then beyond that of course we could have played with a bit more flair,” said Young. “There were a few unforced errors and it was probably a bit sloppy at times. There are aspects we are going to need to improve on. . .”
Clare entered the game as Division Three champions and with the momentum of some good performances. Kerry’s defence shut them down effectively and ruthlessly when the game was a contest in the first half.
"Defensively we were very structured, we kept them very low in the first half. It was good that way. They weren't as effective as they were over the last three or four games. We kept Gary Brennan quiet on the day as well, who has been having an absolute stormer this year."
Young agreed that in the absence of pressure in the second half minds began to wander as did the focus.
“I think so; there was no real pressure there. The contest was slightly over, especially after Darran’s [O’Sullivan] goal. You could sense it was down to maybe to a bit of concentration . .”
