Waterford Manager Makes Appeal To GAA Ahead Of Minor All-Ireland Final

Waterford minor hurling manager James O'Connor has appealed for minor finals to be played on the same day as senior inter-county finals.

It had been tradition for minor finals to be played out in front of packed crowds as warm-up fixtures for the senior finals.

However, a change post-pandemic saw that habit disappear, with minor finals instead being played as isolated fixtures.

The consequence has been evident, as minor players no longer play in front of packed stadiums usually brought on by the demand for senior final action.

That will be the case again when O'Connor's Waterford battle Clare in the All-Ireland minor final in Thurles on Saturday.

However, the 2002 Munster Senior Hurling Championship winner has now called on the GAA to revert to type, giving young players the chance to play in front of massive attendances.

O'Connor was speaking to the Irish Independent when he appealed for the GAA to revert to the old format.

“I guarantee you if you asked any one of those minors would they love to play before the All-Ireland senior? One hundred per cent, they’d all say yes. We have primary school lads going in at half-time playing in front of 35 or 40 thousand.“

"My own lad did it two years ago. Was he intimidated? Absolutely not, he loved it. That’s going too deep into things. I think if they asked players and asked parents, I think they’d all say, ‘let them play in front of 45 or 50 thousand people’. I know I would.”

He continued: “What I don’t really love is going to a big venue and maybe only 10,000 people going to it and more than half the place is empty, I think it takes from it a little bit.

"You should either play before the senior and get a big crowd in there or else you go to a smaller venue and pack it out. It’s an unbelievable experience for a lad to go out and play in front of a big crowd.

“If he has ambition to go on and be a senior player, there’s days that you’re going to be playing in front of 40 or 50 thousand people so why not at minor?”

It is certainly something that the GAA might consider.