McStay has ‘no rules’ for releasing county players to clubs

MAYO manager Kevin McStay has said there are no particular rules regarding which Mayo players can and cannot play for their club.

Several Mayo senior players, including Aidan O’Shea, Paul Towey, Kevin Quinn, Rory Brickenden, Michael Plunkett, Padraig O'Hora and Conor McStay lined out with their clubs for a round of league games the day after Mayo’s recent win over Cavan.

Plunkett, Quinn, Brickenden, O'Hora and McStay did not feature in that game while O’Shea and Towey made cameo appearances from the bench. The latter two put in eye-catching displays for Breaffy and Charlestown against Ballinrobe and Knockmore respectively in the Mayo Senior League the day after the game.

In previous years, Mayo players rarely featured for their clubs in league games during the intercounty season, or were only permitted to play during ‘un-starred’ league games.

Last year, Cillian O’Connor played a full league game for Ballintubber against Ballinrobe the day before Mayo lost to Cork in their championship meeting in Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds.

When asked by The Mayo News about the current policy regarding county players playing for their clubs during the intercounty season, McStay said: “There is no rules, we just look at the players and see who needs matches. And of course, as you know, it’s the middle week of the rhythm, we couldn’t let them off last week because we were getting ready to play Roscommon.

“We need them to get loads of football so we’ve no issue with it, we let them off to clubs and they come back with little injuries and niggles and that’s the risk we take,” he added.