Wicklow team Doctor Brendan Cuddihy has stepped down from his position in protest over his club Eire Og Greystones having to play two championship games in the space of 24hrs.

Dr Cuddihy has ended his long association as doctor to Wicklow county teams following last weekend's debacle that saw Eire Og play the county senior hurling semi-final and county senior football quarterfinal replay in the space of just 24hrs.

Eire Og lost out in both matches and the club are believed to be furious over Wicklow CCC's inability to find an alternative to the fixture pile-up.

Speculation is growing that many of the club's inter-county players will not make themselves available for Wicklow's senior county teams next year and one clubman that won't be there for definite is Dr Cuddihy.

Speaking to the Wicklow People he said: "We talk about fairness, but my job as Doctor to these guys is their welfare and I have to look at them and say the county board are making you play two games in less than 24hrs.

"This is very bad practice. You wouldn't see this happen in other sports. You don't see it happening in rugby, you don't see it happen in soccer. Our lads are being discriminated against, basically.

"As a result, I have an association with the county board here as a volunteer since 1985. I was here as a volunteer doctor for the Laois championship match and as of this week, I'm walking away, because I couldn't be associated with, I don't want to be associated with an organisation that doesn't take player welfare seriously. 

"That's the end of the road. We talked about player welfare all week and that has been ignored. It's on the GAA website that player welfare is paramount. Paramount means that it's above all else. In Wicklow, we talk the talk, but we don't walk the walk."

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