Sean Cavanagh doesn't agree with Kieran McGeeney's assertion that GAA players aren't "elite athletes".

The Armagh manager said in January: "Any other sport trains much harder. If you look at a rower, a swimmer, a cyclist in this country. We are all competing at an amateur level."

But speaking in Croke Park yesterday ahead of Sunday week's Allianz League Division 2 final between Tyrone and Cavan, Cavanagh stated: "If Gaelic footballers aren't elite athletes, it frightens me to think what elite athletes are."

"Just us, as a team, you are on the field training three or four nights a week and you're in the gym two or three times a week."

Citing the example of Aberdeen and Northern Ireland soccer star Niall McGinn, who is a friend of his brother and his Tyrone team-mate Colm, the three-time All-Ireland winning added: "He'd be home from time to time and he'd call in and we'd be chatting, comparing training schedules. We'd always be looking to see what brilliant training regime they'd be on.

"Their S&C stuff seems to be way behind what we're currently doing. He's gotten to a stage where he's looking at our stuff going, 'hey, what are you doing, what's the secret? How are youse doing this?'

"I'm not sure how much more a person can output more energy out of their body."

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