Former Kerry legend Tomas O'Se is currently playing club football with Nemo Rangers and in a wide-ranging chat with Off The Ball tonight, he believes club players have been getting a raw deal.
"When I was playing inter-county, it's something you don't actually realise, but the club player gets a raw deal when you think about it," he said, discussing his enjoyment of playing with the Cork club since the start of the year.
"They train just as often as a senior inter-county team and there was a different guy doing the sessions every night and it was very enjoyable and got great craic out of it and got a bit of a buzz out of it. Then they picked me for the first round of the championship, but the first round is in May and depending on how Cork do in the championship, this is what I think is ridiculous in terms of the fixture dilemma we have. The next round could be August and when I was an inter-county player I'd look at club players at home that would be going to America in the summer and be giving out, 'how dare you leave the club down'. But sure there's no games on for them so what else can they do?"
Adding that the club player "is a sucker, really, when you think about it" and also feels that the GAA could "do more" to alleviate the situation for players at that level.
O'Se also spoke about missing playing championship football since his retirement, saying: "I'd still miss the build up to championship."
While the 36-year-old has no thoughts of returning as a player, he felt former Kingdom team-mate Paul Galvin was "dead right" to make an inter-county comeback from retirement.
O'Se also gave his take on how this season's All-Ireland football championship will unfold:
Tomas Ó Sé picks Kerry to win to the All-Ireland.
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) June 16, 2015
