ANOTHER October Sunday afternoon spoiled by the weather last weekend, as the recent torrential rain was replaced by storm force winds. The weather Gods are clearly sports fans, as storms have all fallen at weekends after weeks with generally benign conditions!
We might have escaped the worst of things down here in Cork, but I still came across a fallen tree and a fallen telecoms pole on an eventful spin from Bandon to Timoleague. The majority of games in Cork went ahead despite the conditions, including the hurling finals in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, though a few had to be cancelled.
There is a temptation to go ahead sometimes in this country once the pitches are anyway playable, however safety of those travelling and the ability of the players to do themselves justice has to considered too. Yellow weather warnings are borderline where a judgement call can be made: anything beyond that is a no-go. This all reinforces the fact that we need more fat in the season for weather delays, and that the kick-out rule as proposed by the Football Review Committee is one at least that will need more consideration.
Firstly, we will look ahead to the football finals this coming weekend. Between covering the semi-finals for Rebels Online and previewing the final on The Southern Star podcast, as well as my previous writings, my thoughts on that game are well enough known by most, I would suggest. Castlehaven are deserving favourites. Last year’s champions have shown the most improvement this year again to move ahead of Nemo Rangers on current form.
Nemo are a dangerous animal in a final and will improve on their showings thus far; however, I don’t think it will be enough to bridge the gap. The Haven by one to two points if Conor and Damien Cahalane aren’t fit enough to start, four or five if they can play a bigger part than against The Barrs. And no, late rumours of a return for Luke Connolly don’t change my mind. Mercurially talented though he is, he struggled with injuries last year and has nothing done this season.
Closer to home on Saturday, the West Cork Junior finals take place. Reigning County Junior B champions Goleen take on Clann na Gael at Church Cross in the ‘B’ final before Kilmacabea meet a Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas side fresh from a draw in the hurling equivalent. As county champions, Goleen will be the team to beat in the ‘B’ decider, while Kilmacabea have the pedigree at this grade to see off the Mathúnas juggernaut.
The Kilmacs will have ambitions beyond just a West Cork championship as they seek another chance to break free from the Junior ‘A’ ranks and finally make amends for letting a late lead slip against Dromtariffe in 2018. The lads from Leap are perennial contenders in the latter stages of the West Cork championship, missing out by just a point to Barryroe last year. They will wear the favourites’ tag and should do the needful.
Preceding the Premier Senior County final between Nemo and Castlehaven, Carrigaline and Knocknagree go head to head in the Senior ‘A’ final. It’s a classic contest of major urban suburb against a rural parish with no major population centre. Carrigaline come in as Division One league champions and may be slight favourites, however Knocknagree are a fine side with some excellent players and won’t be far away. Patrick Doyle, Daniel O’Mahony and Eoghan McSweeney are all Cork senior panellists and Anthony O’Connor is the main scorer up front. West Cork import Brian O’Driscoll is the star name in the Carrigaline ranks, however the Coakleys and the lively Kevin O’Reilly provide strong support in attack. Last year’s Cork u20 Callum Dungan is a solid goalkeeper, even if he allowed Ryan Delaney to take the limelight for the penalty shoot-out in the semi-final. This will be close, I’m going to tip up Carrigaline, possibly after extra-time.
The remaining action starts on Friday night with Muskerry rivals Canovee and Kilmurry facing off in the Premier Junior final. I picked Kilmurry as my ‘nap’ bet at the start of these championships, and I won’t abandon them now. With the teams sharing a parish bounds, they will know everything there is to know about each other and there will be no quarter asked or given. Expect a fierce, fiery encounter but I’ll take Kilmurry to make up for losing a final they should have won last year.
On Saturday, there are two intermediate finals in PUC. In the ‘A’ grade, Boherbue face Glanmire and based on the semi-final form, I will tip Glanmire by a nose. Good luck to former Carbery Ranger, Timmy O’Donoghue, who is amongst the ranks for Glanmire these days. Aghabullogue and Kilshannig then face off in the Premier grade. Aghabullogue are predominantly small, quick and skilful while Kilshannig are a bigger, more physical outfit. It presents an interesting contrast of styles, however the loss of defensive lynchpin Paul Ring through injury for Aghabullogue may tilt the balance in the North Cork men’s favour. Kilshannig by 2 - 3 points here.
A great weekend of deciders in store, let’s hope the storms take a breather for a little while now and we get to enjoy the games without the elements spoiling the occasions.
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LAST weekend saw the first public exhibition of the new rules proposed by the FRC, or ‘enhancements’ as they like to refer to them. The first outing was too one-sided a fixture to give a fair indication of anything really, as Connacht hammered Leinster. Ulster versus Munster was a better contest, and we saw some glimpse of the possibilities before us.
Let’s start with the very positive: obliging three players from each team to remain in the opposite half at all times meant there was more space for players to exploit in attack and we saw a very high-scoring encounter. This is the ultimate aim of the proposed amendments, and while the Inter-provincial games are glorified challenge matches, the signs were positive that the low scoring borefests we have seen so much of in recent years could be vastly reduced, at least. I would go one step further and preclude the goalkeeper from venturing beyond his own 21-yard line at all.
As good as players like Niall Morgan and Rory Beggan are, the addition of an extra attacker to make 12 vs 11 removes the one-to-one contests they are hoping to reignite, and also allows a team to play keep ball around midfield, which is another trait of the game we are trying to move away from. The solo and go option from frees is excellent and will reduce the advantage of the sneaky little fouls so abundant in our game at times. Those two changes and the removal of the pass back to the goalkeeper alone would do much to improve the attractiveness of Gaelic football.
I’m somewhat agnostic towards the one vs one throw-in, and don’t really care if that comes in or not. Maybe just force the two players in front to stay 5m either side, not allowed to move until the ball is touched by the two men contesting the throw-in. That would remove the constant fouling, blocking and wrestling we usually see as the ball is thrown up but still allow the little tap down to get the game going quickly again. I like the concept of the attacking arc (I actually suggested this in a newspaper interview some years back!), however I would extend the line to 45m. The two-pointer should be a rare beast, and they were too plentiful and a little easy to get last weekend. If this change passes, the four points for a goal is a must too. I am broadly in favour of the rule but not as fervently as I would be the first two mentioned.
The kick-out having to go beyond the same arc is fine until the wind howls as it did last Sunday. Moving frees forward 50m for what were very minor indiscretions also looked too severe and I think 25m for minor infringements and 50m for serious dissent would be more suitable. I will need to see more of the attacking mark to make a proper judgement, however it looks a definite improvement on the current iteration of this rule. Basic 20m kick-passes should not be rewarded with a free kick at the posts.
For the most part, I think we need more time to stress test these changes, and as before I would advocate for taking more time before jumping in with all the changes at once. The noises are that most if not all will be recommended for inclusion to Congress at this stage. If that happens, it will surely make for interesting times next year as managers, players and referees at all levels attempt to adapt.
