MATTHEW HURLEY shares his thoughts on the new Gaelic football rules
NOT only did Cork begin their new Division 2 football league campaign but the game’s new rules also took centre stage in matchweek one.
Overall, the stats from Cork v Meath showed an improvement. On Saturday night, there were a total of 64 shots between both teams. Compare that to Cork’s league games last year, in similar weather conditions, it was an average of 49 shots between both sides. More shots means more attacking plays, which is a good sign.
Starting with the 1v1 throw up to start the game, that worked well in both halves given there was an attack right from the off.
The Football Review Committee’s aim was to decrease the number of fouls at the start of the game and it showed at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday evening. The solo-and-go speeds up the game too and is an ideal addition to Gaelic football.
While the three-up, three-back rule infringement was a real talking point over the whole weekend, the free right in front of the posts was only given once in the Cork v Meath match. On the stroke of half time, Mark Cronin drifted back into his own half and was penalised. In the first few weeks of the league in particular, this change will take getting used to.
The major talking point was the newly introduced two-pointer, which caused some confusion in the first half on Saturday. Meath forward Jordan Morris kicked an outside-of-the-boot shot over the black spot after four minutes, which looked like a two-pointer. There was a sense of confusion around the ground when the white flag, rather than red, went up.
Similarly, Paul Walsh kicked a score on 33 minutes which looked like it was shot outside the arc, but not according to the officials.
The thoughts at half time normally would go towards how Cork can drive and get the two points, but in this case it was how will this new scoring system be policed at junior club level?
We saw over the weekend too in Omagh, Tyrone where the 40-metre arc was initially drawn in the wrong place. It will take time getting used to, but a bit of clarity between players and officials in relation to this would be of help.
In the end, it was Caheragh native Brian O’Driscoll who kicked the first-ever Allianz Football League two-pointer on 16 minutes while Mark Cronin and Matthew Costello got the other two. For Cronin’s one, he was allowed to take it outside the arc to get more out of the free, a tactic most teams will use in the next few weeks. What was interesting about this was no two-pointer came from play.
The kickouts are also completely changed for the foreseeable. Only three kickouts overall out of 53 went short. It’s going down the road of what the FRC intended, more 50/50 battles.
There was a moment in the game where Maurice Shanley received the ball short from Míchéal Aodh Martin but was instantly converged on by the Meath forwards. Shanley initially was eying a ball back to the goalkeeper but then remembered he can’t go back. In the end, he did extremely well to get a line ball, but that should be the indication that the short kickout is on the way out. All the forwards have to do is push up and there is no option for the goalkeeper but to kick it long.
Cork only retained 43 percent of their kickouts, an aspect where John Cleary wants them to improve on. Overall, it was a free flowing game, it is just about getting used to for everyone involved.
