Pat Spillane cannot understand the obsession with drinking bans in the GAA.

And after seeing a picture of Caelan Doris - who played underage GAA with Lacken Sarsfields in Mayo - and Andy Farrell enjoying a drink after the Irish rugby team's recent Six Nations victory over France, he feels it's high time drinking bans were relaxed.

"The picture of Man of the Match Caelan Doris and coach Andy Farrell celebrating Ireland’s magnificent rugby win over France last weekend with two creamy pints was my moment from last weekend’s packed programme of global sport," the Kerry legend wrote in his Sunday World column.

"And, trust me, I watched everything from Limerick v Clare to the Phoenix Open. The photograph encapsulated what sport – even at professional level – ought to be about.

"Once the game is over, the players should be allowed celebrate and have a bit of craic. What is the point of it otherwise.

"Doris can thank his lucky stars he is not a county footballer or hurler. The majority of inter-county players are obliged to stop drinking on January 1st, and this ban will not be relaxed by the team management until they exit the Championship.

"Imagine the outcry on social media if a top GAA player and his manager were pictured with pints in their hands two weeks before a big Championship game. Nobody bats an eyelid when it happens in other sports, and rightly so. Thankfully, our rugby internationals can have a life.

"Meanwhile, the GAA’s elite players are obliged to adopt a lifestyle which would do justice to an enclosed order of monks."

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