Sligo manager Tony McEntee has said he would ideally need six weeks to prepare his team for the start of the Allianz Football League.

The GAA has decided to further delay the return of inter-county teams to collective training following a meeting of its Covid-19 Advisory Group last Monday evening. A letter sent to counties and signed by GAA Director General Tom Ryan stated that "it would be irresponsible for the GAA to permit a return to collective training at this moment in time" and the group is set to reconvene on February 15th to further consider the matter.

Ryan has indicated a plan to provide counties with a four week window before competitions resume, which Armagh All-Ireland winner McEntee believes will be enough time to get his players ready. But the Crossmaglen Rangers clubman suggested that teams may be at a higher risk of injury over four weeks than six.

"Realistically you would like six weeks," McEntee told RTÉ's Saturday Sport.

"Players are doing weights and various training programmes at home, so it's not a fitness thing; it's the high intensity part to it. That is the twisting and turning, the ball work under pressure and the contact they are going to take.

"While I think players will be ready in four weeks, we are more likely then to have more injuries in the early part of the league. That will put teams under pressure. Six weeks would be ideal, but four weeks will just see us blow a lot of cobwebs off."

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