MICHAEL Hurley can’t wait to get stuck into football under the new rules.
In theory, the latest iteration of Gaelic football should suit the Castlehaven sharpshooter who has emerged as one of the top club forwards in the county.
‘I can’t really say it suits me yet but I’m hoping they do. They will suit a good footballing team and suit out-and-out forwards. On a personal level, I’m really excited to try them out,’ Hurley says ahead of Castlehaven’s county league Division 1 campaign that starts away to Douglas this Thursday evening (7.45pm).
‘Covering the last six, seven or eight years, we’ve been accustomed, as forwards, to try and beat our man plus more than just your own man. The new rules bring back the traditional old-style forward, just beating your own man, which is very exciting.’
With the three-up, three-back rule and two-pointers becoming prevalent in the inter-county season, lethal forwards like Hurley will hope to thrive in the club scene.
‘Personally and as a team, we’re all excited about the new rules. I think they are good for the game, they’re good for players and they’re good for spectators. I’m looking forward to trying them out in the league, that’s where we will learn a lot from them,’ Hurley says.
‘They are obviously not perfect. There is a lot of talk on social media about them, that’s always going to be the way, but I think they’re brilliant for the game. They’ll bring a freshness to the league and the championship this year.’
Seanie Cahalane’s back-to-back county-winning team will be without a host of their big guns for the league campaign as many are involved in Cork county teams, but former Cork footballer Michael Hurley will lead the attack, and provide a cutting edge.
‘We’re looking forward to the league. To be honest, we don’t have a whole pile of training under our belts. We won’t have much done but we touched base on the new rules obviously – that’s the focus for most teams,’ Hurley says.
Other than growing accustomed to the new rules, the Haven have another aim as they gear up for championship in July: build on an already talented bunch of players.
‘They will be two of our main goals – to learn a lot about the new rules and learn a bit about our panel. Build a panel, which we did brilliantly last year in the league. I think we only ended up mid-table. It was fairly clear come championship that we developed a lot of players who needed developing,’ the Castlehaven forward says.
‘We found one or two along the way. That’s an aim every year for Castlehaven. The results are important, of course they are. You want to have a winning tradition but I think it’s more so about developing as a team throughout the year.’
With seven other premier senior sides in Division 1, this is where Castlehaven need to be early in the season to get competitive action. They also face St Michael’s (March 16th) and Cill na Martra (April 13th) at home and West Cork rivals Newcestown away (March 30th) to start the year.
‘It’s always important. If it’s not competitive, you don’t really learn. If there is a game that is one sided, I don’t think you learn a whole pile from that. Having that standard in the league is huge. You learn a lot more from tight games, win or lose,’ Hurley adds.
‘That competition is brilliant and I think the competition in Cork has been brilliant over the last few years. We’re lucky enough to have been successful but I think the teams up there with us are extremely good teams who can compete on any stage in Munster.’
