DONEGAL STAR PADDY McBrearty sustained shoulder and kidney injuries during last night’s International Rules test win against Australia at Croke Park.
Ireland manager Joe Kernan confirmed afterwards that McBrearty was taken to hospital following his collision with a goalpost at the Hill 16 end in the 12th minute of the second quarter, which forced him to leave the game.
McBrearty managed to get on the end of a Bernard Brogan pass to punch the ball to the net, but he crashed into the post while doing so after appearing to have been shoved by Australian player Luke Hodge.
To compound McBrearty’s misery, his goal was ruled out as referee Joe McQuillan had blown his whistle for a foul, with Conor McManus finding the net with the subsequent penalty.
Thankfully, however, McBrearty seems to be doing fine. The 2012 Young Footballer of the Year took to Twitter after the game to congratulate his Ireland team-mates on regaining the Cormac McAnallen Cup.
This is a great opportunity to try something different and not have the usual opposition of the old school diehards who dont want change.
The idea of an open knockout championship sounds great I think and would give teams a shot of a dream run. If I’m from Kildare or Fermanagh, I would be much more motivated for championship as you go from 7 games (minimum) to an All Ireland final to 4 games..
@Lad: until those old school diehards stop getting voted onto county/provincial boards, provincial championships are here to stay.
@Lad: Would that not bring us back to why the qualifier system was introduced. 16 teams would only get 1 game. I’d be in favour of a champions league style group format, ran for 2 years, and then split into 2 separate championships, retaining that format. Have a system for promotion and relegation. It’s a lot of games for players though, which may make it a hard sell.
Open draw, try it once. Can u imagine if Kerry got Dublin in killarney in football or tipp v kilkenny in thurles..in first round ties..the buzz would be unique.
@jay bernard: would they allow supporters at the match?
Look, it’s best to just forget about the league, and I’m not just saying that because we may be relegated (‘ ‘) ….
@Logan Shepherd: “May”
@Logan Shepherd: please god forget about the league
@my name: Ah .. if it was May, I’d say go ahead and finish it, but it’s nearly the end of June :-)
Always thought brollys idea of 8 groups of 4 teams with top two play knockout for A all Ireland bottom two play in b all Ireland. Everyone gets 4 games and everyone has chance for a all Ireland. Entails for far more excitement
Yeah, what most of us have wanted for years… provincial championship in football is a joke, Ulster aside. You can’t keep the current provincial set up based on one province alone