William O’Donoghue warns split season punishes successful GAA players

The inter-county calendar leaves little room to breathe for top-tier competitors, according to William O’Donoghue. The Limerick centre-back pointed out that the current structure penalizes clubs and athletes who go deep into the championship. As the Limerick squad prepared to depart for team holidays to the United States and the Dominican Republic on Friday, a notable absentee highlighted the grueling schedule. Shane O’Brien will miss the trip because Kilmallock must face Ballygunner in a Munster semi-final on Sunday week.

O’Donoghue, named the Gaelic Writers’ Association Hurling Personality of the Year sponsored by Clayton Hotels, acknowledged certain benefits to the arrangement. He noted that players can dedicate themselves fully to the county panel when that season is active. Yet the relentless pace catches up quickly. I think split season works in the sense it is better to just like, let’s say when you are in with Limerick, to give 100% to that. But what I do think is the split season has also given the players very little reprieve.

The Cost of Deep Championship Runs

The demands hit successful squads hardest. O’Donoghue experienced the heavy toll firsthand after playing deep into November with Na Piarsaigh in both 2022 and 2023 following Limerick’s All-Ireland victories. With collective pre-season training for the county set to commence this year on November 20, the turnaround leaves virtually zero downtime. Yeah, (there’s) absolutely no time at all. People say like, ‘will you enjoy your week off?’ and it’s just accepted that if you play GAA and happen to be – it’s obviously a good complaint – but it’s the norm to get a week or two off a year, he explained.

Despite the tight schedule, O’Donoghue praised John Kiely’s management team for prioritizing player welfare where possible. Now in fairness, we’re very lucky in the Limerick set-up that they’re very conscious if we need to be looked after. I guess I just mean on the whole, the schedule doesn’t take into account and as per the schedule, you should just be rolling into one from the next, he noted. Na Piarsaigh’s final defeat to Kilmallock means O’Donoghue, who turns 32 next month, will enter the new block with an inadvertent physical advantage.

O'Donoghue Defends Rising Limerick Panel Members

Away from the calendar debate, O’Donoghue addressed external perceptions of Limerick’s younger panel members. Fresh off earning his third All-Star award last week, the Na Piarsaigh clubman defended teammates Adam English (23), Aidan O’Connor (24), and Cathal O’Neill (24) against suggestions that their breakthrough happened overnight. They’ve been incredible talents, and I think people are acting like it is only this year they’ve got good. Cathal, he was nominated for an All-Star in ’24. He started a Munster final in ’23, they’ve been incredible in within our group and training, O’Donoghue stated.

He added that O’Neill’s recent success stemmed from staying injury-free, while players like English, O’Brien, and Colin Coughlan seized their opportunities decisively. O’Donoghue also championed club-mate Peter Casey, suggesting the forward delivered his finest season yet for the Treaty County. He’s had some pretty good years, but I think this was probably his best year. I thought he was probably one of our most consistent players if you go through all the games, in Munster, in the All-Ireland, O’Donoghue said.

Like, the amount of scores he got in big games and that coupled with his kind of game intelligence and work-rate, he’s a really important player for us. To see him get back to a place where he could have actually deliver his best performance, I think was the most pleasing aspect.
William O’Donoghue