Kilkenny football manager John McGrath says the clubs are to blame for the Cats' football woes.

The Noresiders suffered a humiliating 50-point defeat to Louth in the Leinster U21 FC on Wednesday night and McGrath - who looks after both the U21 and senior sides in the county - says in today's Independent:

"We had to submit a team for the programme last Monday, but we knew there would be changes.

"We lost a few lads to colleges hurling, another four of them were doing exams. We had one player who was ruled out late because he was still suffering from concussion and another got injured on Tuesday night.

"Two more of them were caught in work in Dublin, they rang me to tell me they would be late. Of the panel of 21 we were working off, only two lads didn't notify us that they wouldn't be there.

"It's a real struggle, but we are trying hard and the real problem is the clubs. If I sent out a message to every club in Kilkenny today asking them to nominate three players to come to county football training, I would be lucky if ten turned up.

"If Brian Cody did the same he'd need the guards for crowd control. There wouldn't be room for all the players who would want to try out for the hurlers. That's just the reality.

"Our problem is that if you have a fairly good hurler, who is also a good footballer, his club will actively discourage him from playing with us. They don't want him playing football with us because they want him available for club hurling at all times.

"We have a development squad now at underage level thanks to Bord na nOg and they are also working hard to ensure that walkovers aren't being given and that all minor and U21 football games go ahead, which hasn't been the case.

"The reality is that we are fit to compete at junior intercounty level, but, in the last three years we've developed a core group of lads and are adding three young lads every year to try to give some depth.

"We rejoined the national league a few years ago because we feel that will eventually bring us on, but it will take time and it's going to be another few years before we are competitive." Tweet

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