Eamonn Fitzmaurice believes the league and championship could be played over a five-month period.

The two competitions combined currently run for seven months, from February until September, but the Kerry manager says action is required to alleviate the demands on players in January, February and March:

"I have said it before that I believe that the season is too long," he tells The Irish Independent. "You count up the number of matches that are played in January and February, and then throw March into the mix, and you have a period when a large percentage of your games are played.

"You will have three or four games played in the pre-season tournaments and by the end of March we will have six league games played. I agree with Jim Gavin. I believe that an April league start would be ideal. There is such a crossover of players.

"In January, the college players play their pre-season competitions; then you have players away with the U21s; then you have players involved in the Sigerson Cup and you also have the Railway Cup.

"If you have a couple of injuries and a couple of players coming back late, like we had, it's difficult.

"If you have a club like Dr Crokes, who are likely to be involved in the All-Ireland club championship in February or March, it does make it challenging early in the year.

"We lost Jonathan Lyne in the Railway Cup and, of course, we know Colm's story in the All-Ireland club. We know that is the way it is at the moment, it's the same for everybody and we plan accordingly.

"But in an ideal world, I do think that things could be planned differently. You could play a bit of club football earlier in the year, you could get the league and championship run over a shorter time span, maybe over a five-month period." Tweet

Most Read Stories