Colm O'Rourke was critical of the Sigerson Cup's timing after Meath made it two wins from two in the Allianz Football League, describing it as an "abuse of players".

The Royals have six players currently involved in the third-level competition, including Shane Walsh, who came off injured after only 13 minutes of yesterday's win over Clare, and Mathew Costello, who was injured playing with DCU during the week.

"The Sigerson Cup has dealt a heavy blow to our team," the Meath manager fumed in an interview with RTÉ's Sunday Sport.

"Shane Walsh with a hamstring injury, Matt Costello having a hamstring injury, playing last Tuesday night after coming home from Cork - a long drive, a hard match, a very fast pitch - these are overuse injuries.

"This is disgraceful, the abuse of players with this Sigerson Cup. It needs to be put on at a different time of the year.

"We have six players tied up. They're not able to train with us at any of the time, and we had to take off Darragh Campion and Cathal Hickey today because we were concerned about the load on them."

O'Rourke added: "I think it's absolutely disgraceful the way these players are being abused. Talk about player welfare; there's no player welfare in expecting lads to do that."

Tweet

Most Read Stories