GPA's first formal meeting with Kelly

The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) have had their first formal meeting with GAA president Seán Kelly and director general Liam Mulvihill. GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell had spoken with Kelly on an informal basis during the past year, but the meeting in Croke Park yesterday opened the first formal lines of communication during Kelly's term as presidency.

Afterwards Farrell described the discussions as courteous and productive. While a number of issues were addressed, the main theme of the meeting was the mechanism whereby the GPA could establish some player representation on Central Council, while also pursuing some player welfare issues.

"I think both sides are now anxious that there is some sort of formal player representation available on Central Council," said Farrell. "And I think we are definitely moving forward in that regard. Whether or not the GPA is formally recognised is not the main issue, because a lot of that just comes down to semantics."

Kelly made a strong reference to the issue of player welfare during his speech to congress earlier this month: "We can now sit down with the GPA," he said, "and either decide to ignore them, tolerate them or recognise them. I am not 100 per cent sure that we know, or that they know themselves, what their focus is, but it's quite clear that while they may or may not represent all players, players do not want anyone else to represent them either."

Farrell also had his mind on another matter yesterday evening, as some clear differences of opinion broke out regarding a warm-weather training trip for the Limerick senior football team. The GPA condemned the Limerick County Board for what they described as "disgraceful treatment" of the senior football squad, who on Monday left for a week-long training trip to La Manga in Spain.

According to Farrell, one under-21 player who had impressed management and earned an invite to participate in the training week was subsequently forced to concede his seat on the plane to a county board official. He also claimed that the team hadn't yet received their full entitlements of playing gear as provided for by Central Council guidelines.

Limerick County Board chairman Denis Holmes rejected most of Farrell's comments, stating the under-21 player hadn't received proper clearance for the trip, and that considering the trip was partly funded by the county board, they were entitled to have some representation present. "To the best of my knowledge none of these issues were raised prior to departure," said Holmes, "and as far as I am aware the players got all the gear they asked for".

Meanwhile, the full details of the All-Ireland Tier Two and Tier Three hurling championship have now been finalised. The Tier Two championship, to be known as the Christy Ring Cup, will start on June 4th, and consist of two groups of five teams.

The first group will contain Derry, Down, Westmeath, Roscommon and Meath, while the second group will contain Kildare, Kerry, Carlow, Wicklow and Mayo. Tier Three, to be known as the Nicky Rackard Cup, will consist of Tyrone, Fermanagh, Sligo, Donegal (Group A); Armagh, Cavan, Louth, Leitrim (Group B); and Longford, Monaghan, Warwickshire and London (Group C). A team of each championship will be selected after the finals, and from that the Irish team to play in the Shinty International next October will be selected.