McGrath: ‘We don’t need anyone lecturing us on how to deal with players’

Donegal GAA has no issue with county players over expenses or any other matter Donegal GAA chairman Mick McGrath has insisted.

Players were told by the Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA) not to conduct interviews after games in a bid to raise awareness of an issue over expenses. No Donegal players or management took part in interviews after the visitors won 1-12 to 0-10, although Monaghan manager McEnaney and man of the match Kieran Duffy did.

The chairman said he was very annoyed that the media had been dragged into the dispute and that county boards did not need anybody ‘lecturing’ them on how to deal with their players.

“The first thing I would like to say is that we have no issue with the players and I have no difficulty going on the record and saying that,” said the chairman.

“We have a very good working relationship between the county board and the players both the football and hurling panels,” McGrath told DonegalLive. “If any issues ever arise they are discussed and resolved. Everybody does not get their own way all the time but we resolve them and move on. I would say to everyone in the GAA and the GPA, there is no issue in Donegal.”

The players body took the decision due to a dispute in the paying of travelling expenses to players and a cap on the number of training sessions covered by expenses.

The GPA issued the directive at the end of last week when they failed to reach an agreement with Croke Park, on a return to pre-pandemic travelling expenses for players.

During the pandemic players had taken a cut in travelling expenses from 65 cent a mile to 50 cent a mile. The GPA also has a difficulty with a cap being placed on the number of training sessions per week covered by expenses.

The directive was issued to all county football panels taking part in games over the weekend. The Donegal players were acting on the directive and manager Bonner, in a show of support, did not speak to the media either.

“I’ve sympathy for the press and they’re being dragged into this and the GPA are using the players as pawns,” McGrath added. “We don’t need anyone lecturing us on how to deal with players, or the press. We have a good working relationship with the press. We don’t always like what we see but we take any criticism constructively. It’s part and parcel of inter-county GAA. All in all we have a good working relationship with both the local press here in Donegal and indeed the national press.”