Kieran Donnelly: Full-time managers could benefit overseeing of players' load

Fermanagh football boss Kieran Donnelly believes there is "merit" in the idea of having inter-county managers in full-time roles in order to help deal with the increasing load on players and set-ups.

It comes amid comments from GAA president Jarlath Burns in a wide-ranging interview on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport in which he suggested that putting managers on contracts could soon become a viable point of discussion such is the growing demands of the role.

"I think there will be a debate on whether we should put managers on contract. Because it is nearly a full-time job, the amount of accountability is there," Burns said on Sunday.

Speaking at Monday's launch of the Allianz Inter-Provincial Football Series which will see a myriad of proposed new Gaelic football rule changes trialed, Donnelly shared his view on the issue of contracts potentially being introduced for inter-county managers.

"This has been mooted for years. The way the game has evolved, it's got more professional, the players do take more managing," he told RTÉ Sport's Marty Morrissey.

"The level of training, especially you'll find with this new game going forward with the new rules, there will be an even fitter athlete required due to the high speed running and the demands on them.

"So this is probably something the GAA will have to discuss. Within us (managers) at the minute, we do realise the time load on it but we do it because we enjoy it. There's no doubt about it.

"When you're managing your own county, there's a massive reward to that, so it probably will be something that will need to be looked at down the line due to the actual time that is afforded to running a team, especially at this level."

Donnelly, who will manage Ulster during the inter-provincial