Dónal Óg Cusack and Colm Cooper have united in their calls to move both All-Ireland finals back into September.

In the GAA's new, contracted inter-county fixture calendar the hurling and football showpieces are being played earlier than is traditional.

As part of a three-year trial, this season’s hurling decider is on Sunday, 18 August with the football two weeks later on 1 September.

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Traditionally, they were on the first and third Sunday of September and both Cooper and Cusack favour a return.

"This might sound parochial, but we are in competition with other sports and we need to keep that in our minds all of the time," said three-time All-Ireland winning goalkeeper Cusack, speaking on the latest edition of the RTÉ GAA Podcast.

"We need to be really aware of that competitive aspect all the time. September was our month and I wouldn’t have given up that space for anybody.

"The people responsible for this are the GAA themselves; they say it’s because the inter-county season is too long and clubs are being impacted, but you have to remember that the best advertising window for our games is the big inter-county games.

"I have spoken to a number of teachers – the buzz around schools and the opportunity in primary schools when the finals were going on was huge. It’s something that we have lost, in my view."

Kerry legend Cooper is in full agreement, saying: "I’m a fan of September."

Dublin and Tyrone faced off in the 2018 All-Ireland final on the first Sunday in September

He continued: "The All-Irelands I played in, there was sometimes a month in the build-up, which is probably too long, but two to three weeks is a perfect opportunity for the buzz and the razzamatazz to build around a county.

"You need that window for it to gain traction and gain momentum nationally. It's sad at the moment that we’re talking about All-Ireland hurling finals in August.

"Jeez, the final is on 18 August – that’s usually when the football semi-finals are on. It’s an opportunity lost now because the window is so tight.

"It was done for the clubs to help their fixture list, but it hasn’t made a huge impact on it and at the end of the day there are just two counties in the hurling and football finals."