For as long as I can remember Kilkenny has always released their team and panel for the upcoming weekend games on a Friday night.
However, all this is set to change with team announcements set to take place on Friday morning from 10 am. Now the team has always been issued to the GAA in the day prior, however, the publishing time of such news seems to be the crux of the issue.
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The main concern is players being informed of their fate in the upcoming game before the manager has had the chance to discuss it with them. Another concern is the possibility of dummy teams being put forward, which was a concern under the previous ruling anyway, however, Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng insinuated that this may become more widespread when speaking after the league final;
“I think it causes everybody issues. I don’t know where common sense is in that decision, to be honest. If you have a match on a Sunday, you train on a Friday night. You give the team to the players first so I don’t understand it at all. “
“What’s going to happen is that the 26 players you get won’t be an accurate reflection on the programme so I don’t understand it.”
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His opposing manager in the league final was John Kiely, who seemed to be in sync with Derek’s thoughts on the matter when speaking ahead of the Munster Championship;
“If your team is out on a Sunday and you’re out on a Friday, we feel very strongly that the players should hear from the management before the team is announced to the wider public and the wider media. You have to understand that this isn’t going to be just for the first round of the championship, it’s going to be for an All-Ireland final and some difficult decisions will have to be made around team selections and panel selections.”
“For a player that doesn’t make it onto a matchday team or the matchday 26, it’s going to be a significant disappointment in his life, for his season and I think it’s really important that we have the opportunity to lead that internally within our groups in every county.”
Listen back to Derek Lyng and John Kiely below on Scoreline Extra:
