Former Tipperary star Shane McGrath says that a zero tolerance approach must be taken with regards to head contact in hurling.

There were a couple of instances this past weekend of head contact, with Kilkenny's Cian Kenny having stayed on the field after his tackle while Cian O'Sullivan of Dublin was issued a straight red card for his challenge on Waterford’s Mark Fitzgerald.

Speaking on the RTE GAA Podcast this week, McGrath said that GAA should look to err on the side of caution and feels it would make easy for players to avoid being sent off should the rules around head contact become stricter.

"Don't put yourself in that position where the ref has to make the call. I remember I did it one year to Richie Power, it was a disgrace. I caught his faceguard up in Croke Park,” he said.

"If it was nowadays I would have been gone, red carded and rightly so. It was terrible, it's nearly something I always regret. That doesn't happen anymore, lads know not to go near the faceguard or the helmets.

"At the weekend you had Cian Kenny on Ciarán Joyce. For me, that's a red card. I'm going back to the err on the side of caution.

"I think Cian O'Sullivan's is a red card on Mark Fitzgerald. It has to be zero tolerance from now on because these guys are so physically strong. Someone's going to get hurt."

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