Jason Sherlock Feels GAA Need To Sort Out Massive Inter-County Coaching Issue

When it comes to modern inter-county GAA, the amount of time that players are asked to commit during a given season is something that would boggle the mind of those not familiar with the sport.

Despite being an entirely amateur venture, Gaelic footballers and hurlers are required to almost entirely dedicate their lives to the sport. Between training, gym sessions, meetings, and matches, there is very little time for any other activity for large parts of the year.

Of course, that is also true of GAA managers. While the physical ask is not the same, they arguably spend even more time working on the sport due to the additional planning that goes along with the above commitments.

It is something that many are people are now questioning the viability of.

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Jason Sherlock is someone who is very familiar with the demands that is placed upon GAA players and managers. Not only was he a top class player in his day, he has since gone on to spend time in the coaching team with the likes of Dublin and Westmeath.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One, Sherlock said that the time inter-county managers are being asked to give up is something that many are finding difficult to cope with.

I get why the GAA are looking at that. I always looked at Jim Gavin and then I was involved with Dessie Dolan with Westmeath for a couple of years and it's such a big commitment from a time perspective.

You only have to look at the amount of vacancies there are with GAA managers now at the moment.

At the end of the day there's very little reward because a lot of these counties, with respect, are never going to be competitive at the highest level with the current structures that are there...

I'm not sure how sustainable it is for people to have a working 9-5 role and be a manager of an inter-county football or hurling team.

It certainly seems as though the end of each season is now met with a large number of managers moving on from their posts. In many cases, other work and family commitments are given as a reason for their departure.

This is something the GAA will need to look into, with many feeling as though we are reaching a tipping point when it comes to the demands being placed on both players and coaches at inter-county level.