Fixture congestion is a commonly hot potato in the GAA and ‘player burnout’ has become something of a buzz phrase in recent times.
For some Donegal footballers, they’re real issues right now.
As the Donegal Under-21s prepare to face Cavan tonight in the rescheduled Ulster Under-21 semi-final, three players have already played 5 inter-county games in the last 21 days.
Tonight’s game will make it six games – all of them fixtures of real substance and meaning, too – in a 22-day period, and likely
Should Declan Bonner’s team reach the final, which is to be played on Monday evening, it will then become seven matches in 27 days.
Killybegs man Eoghan Ban Gallagher (above), who has now made a place his own in Rory Gallagher’s Donegal senior panel, has played in every minute of the five games:
March 15 v Tyrone, Ulster U21 quarter-final – 80 minutes
March 18 v Tyrone, Allianz League Division 1 – 70 minutes
March 22 v Tyrone, Ulster U21 quarter-final replay – 60 minutes
March 26 v Monaghan, Allianz League Division 1 – 70 minutes
April 2 v Mayo, Allianz League Division 1 – 70 minutes
It is a punishing schedule and the tale of the tape is along similar lines for Gaoth Dobhair’s Micheál Carroll.
This spring, Carroll has been one of the players to really profit from Donegal’s loss of nine players from the senior ranks.
Carroll would have played every minute of that handful of fixtures, save for the fact that he was replaced in added time at the end of the Under-21 replay win over Tyrone.
Bundoran’s Jamie Brennan has also been given a big chance by Rory Gallagher this year and in those five games he has played 311 minutes.
It is quite likely that Gallagher and Carroll will take their on-field time beyond 400 minutes for that three-week period tonight in Brewster Park.
Cian Mulligan played in four of those games (he didn’t feature against Monaghan) while Michael Langan featured in all of them, with his three substitute appearances for the senior team totalling 13 minutes.
“The schedule has been tough and it has been very trying,” says Declan Bonner.
“We have so many of them involved with the seniors; you just hope every day that they come out unscathed.
“But the game time they are getting at senior level is invaluable and it is important that we are able to use that.
“It’s a lot of football, but as long as they’re coming through and are fit to play, it isn’t too bad.”
Jason McGee missed a few weeks after damaging a shoulder in the Allianz League win over Cavan last month while Kieran Gillespie will miss out tonight after injuring a hamstring in the warm-up to Sunday’s League meeting with Mayo in Castlebar.
Location and logistics have also proved challenging for Bonner.
Last week’s semi-final was called off at the 11th hour following a late pitch inspection in Enniskillen. While the Cavan squad trained that night at Kingspan Breffni Park, Donegal’s players went to all corners: Nine of them are based in Dublin; four are in Sligo; three of them live in Galway; while one each reside in Dundalk, Belfast and Athlone.
“It’s a nightmare, trying to sort that out,” Bonner says. “That’s what we’re up against, though. We always knew the under-21s was a tough age group, but that’s why we took on the McKenna Cup this year: to get not only game time, but quality game time for the group.”
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