The gruelling schedule facing a host of footballers in an eight day period

It doesn’t need to be like this.

But it is February. It is the GAA. What else would we expect?

Player burnout has been a concern in the GAA for ages now. Especially for younger players who are juggling club, county and college commitments, the strain is huge.

We’ve heard the horror stories this year. Like the Clare footballer Ciaran Russell who played six games in 12 days while working night shifts as a guard. We’ve heard about Brian Howard putting his DIT scholarship in danger so he would be fit for his county at the weekend.

How can you blame Brian Howard for his decision? @Woolberto writes https://t.co/0yizi0Jg21

— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 6, 2018

We hear these every year, but wouldn’t it make a lot more sense if efforts were made to fix it. The solutions are there. A blanket ban could be placed on college players playing for their counties. Those pointless pre-season competitions could be scrapped and then this load wouldn’t be so jammed together.

But that might make a bit too much sense.

This week is going to be tough for DIT’s Conor Loftus. It’s going to be tough for Tipperary’s Bill Maher, for Kerry’s Ronan Shanahan for Meath’s Brian Power, for Cavan’s Caoimhín O’Reilly and Enda Flanagan, for Wicklow’s Ross O’Brien. It might even be tough for Brian Howard.

That’s 7/8 of their team.

The same goes for NUIG’s Damien Comer, Sean Kelly and Peter Cooke and Cein D’arcy – who played for Galway in their win over Mayo.

That’s four of their team.

Loftus, Maher and Howard, Comer, Kelly, D’Arcy, Cooke and O’Brien all played a game for their counties over the weekend.

Here’s the schedule they face.

• Wednesday, February 14, Sigerson Cup semi-final – DIT Vs NUIG, O’Moore Park, Portlaoise, 7.00.

Whichever side wins will have a Sigerson Cup final on Saturday.

• Saturday, February 17, Sigerson Cup final.

In that Sigerson Cup final, they will meet UCD or UUJ.

For UCD, Tipperary’s Jimmy Feehan and Liam Casey, Mayo’s Stephen Coen, Laois’s Evan O’Carroll, all played at the weekend for their counties.

For UUJ, Down’s Niall Madine, Tyrone’s Rory Brennan and Lee Brennan all lined out.

These lads are now facing into the same, Wednesday-Saturday schedule.

It’s the worst all, however for they Galway quartet Comer, Cooke, D’arcy and Kelly – who then may have to play in the Connacht FBD League final on the Sunday, making it four games in the space of one week.

The lads may not be called upon for the meaningless FBD League final, but they could be and that’s an indictment of where we’re at.

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10