Cork star Alan Cadogan says John Kiely was correct to complain about the Munster championship schedule and reckons a tweak is required.
This year’s four-game round robin campaign was played out across six weekends in May and June, one week more than last year.
Attacker Cadogan says it’s still not enough time for players to fully recover between games in the ultra competitive series.
He agreed with All-Ireland winning Limerick boss Kiely who noted how tough it was to be asked to play three huge Championship games in 14 days this month.
Cadogan said: “They tweaked it a bit this year with two weeks off in the middle. It’s still extremely tough on the body. I saw John Kiely (right) say that having three games in 14 days was extremely tough on players.
“It’s physically demanding. I notice after matches that you’re mentally tired because you’re putting so much into preparing. You lose one game and there’s no time to cry about it, you have to get back up again.
“You’re not going to do that much work realistically in a week so there are definitely a few tweaks that can be made.
“From a spectator’s point of view, it’s brilliant.
“But fellas still have to get up and go to work in the morning, fellas who are in offices or who work for themselves and can’t afford to take that time off.”
Cadogan returned to action after 21 months away from Championship hurling in the win over Limerick.
He missed all of the 2018 Championship with a knee injury so said he was simply happy to be involved.
The Douglas man, 26, said: “This is my first year experiencing the week-in, week-out structure and I’m thoroughly enjoying it and my hurling. The Munster Championship is a battlefield and any of the teams can win it but there are probably a few small tweaks that could be made because it’s extremely tiring on people and then you’re expecting them to go again the following week.”
Limerick will be back in action on Sunday in the Munster final - their fourth Championship game in June.
Cadogan reckons that they’ll be energised and ready to go with so much on the line for them.
The two-time Munster Championship winner said: “There are no out-and-out sweepers in either team, which is good for hurling, good for the public. I don’t think there’ll be anything in it. Maybe the Gaelic Grounds will have a bit of a factor in it, in Limerick’s favour, but the bottom line is the best two teams are in the Munster final, you can have no complaints with that.”
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