Queen’s manager Conor Deegan believes the correct decision was made to play the Sigerson Cup without implementing the new Football Review Committee rules.
The third-level competitions – including the Sigerson Cup – are taking place under the old rules.
Three of the four Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup fixtures scheduled for Tuesday were postponed because of weather (TU Dublin v University of Galway; UCC v UCD; TUS Midlands v Maynooth University).
Two of Wednesday’s matches have now been moved to Friday (DCU DÉ v MTU Kerry; ATU Donegal v MTU Cork) but the St Mary’s University College v Queen’s University clash is still set to go ahead at 2pm in Davitts on Wednesday. The ATU Galway v University of Limerick match is also to proceed in Liam Mellows at 7pm on Wednesday.
Connacht Council’s John Prenty criticises GPA over inconsistency in player welfare
‘Chronic shortage’ of referees leaves Dublin GAA stretched to the limit
Malachy Clerkin: Whatever anyone thinks about Rory Gallagher, the GAA president should not be influencing Naas GAA’s coaching choices
Correct decision to play Sigerson Cup under old rules, says Queen’s manager
“Time would have been very difficult for us to implement them [new rules] and get them well drilled into our players. It would have added an extra layer of difficulty for players and for referees,” said former Down footballer Deegan.
“No, we were quite happy with [the old rules] staying for the Sigerson, although to be blunt our way of playing was that we largely tried to keep men up anyway.
“So, in another breath, the new rules might have suited us a wee bit – but it would have been a very difficult thing to implement so quickly.”
Deegan and his management team had trained with the rules late last year before a decision was made not to use them in the third-level competitions.
Overall, the two-time Sam Maguire winner sees merit in what those on the committee are trying to achieve – but he does also expect stumbling blocks along the way before the new rules become familiar to players, coaches and supporters.
“There are aspects of them that are very good and undoubtedly they are going to change how the game is played,” added Deegan.
“We trialled a few among ourselves because we didn’t know if we were going to have to play by them. It’s a seismic shift, it’s an awful lot of rules at the one time and I think it’s going to be very difficult on our referees.
“The one we found probably most difficult was keeping three up, for the very simple reason that players are now preconditioned to track back – you are sort of standing at the halfway line shouting at them not to go back over the halfway line and they were still doing it.
“It will take a while for it to bed in and that’s why teams will be running countless games among themselves to get up to speed.
“It did need to change, something had to give. The fact they’ve had to throw in so many rules so quickly, I think that gives a clear indication that things were a wee bit broke at that stage.
“It wasn’t a pleasant game to watch. And when you were watching a match the only time it got interesting was in the last 10 or 15 minutes when it was in the melting pot. Then all hell broke loose and teams stopped defending and started bombing forward and kicking the ball. If we could go back to playing like that all the time it would be a different game.”
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
