Managers call for a sixth sub given the new rules
After Saturday’s match in Ballybofey, Dublin and Donegal managers Dessie Farrell and Jim McGuinness made common cause on the issue of replacements. Since the FRC’s rules “enhancements” were unveiled, the consensus has been that they place heavier demands on player – and referee – fitness.
Writing on these pages, former intercounty referee and FRC member Maurice Deegan, who came out of retirement to take charge of a couple of challenge matches before the league, put a measure on it.
“Generally, I would do between six and seven kilometres when refereeing a game. I was up to nine, nine and a half the other day – without me even knowing it. It really surprised me.”
McGuinness, speaking after Saturday’s defeat of Dublin, called for a sixth replacement.
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“Peadar Mogan is one of our fittest players and he was really, really struggling there in the last 15 minutes. I actually feel for Dublin. They’ve lost three men with hamstring injuries [Davy Byrne, James Madden and Colm Basquel].
“I think that aspect will have to be taken into consideration when they go to review it.
“I picked up on the very first FRC document that there was talk of six subs and I thought it made perfect sense. We know from our own training the metrics that are going up;’ it’s the explosive ones, the ones that challenge you the most.”
Farrell agreed: “I had to seek clarity on it before the first game because in my head, it was six subs. That seems to have got lost in the ether somewhere.
“The data still has to be analysed in terms of what the physical demands are on players. There is something just slightly awry in terms of preseason, the new rules, the collective training date, the volume you’re getting into lads and then games are coming thick and fast.”
That the new rules are physically demanding isn’t a surprise. Back in October when the FRC proposals were trialled in the interprovincial competition, there was a derogation to allow the four teams to use an interchange replacements bench, as in the AFL and international rules series. In both games, the number of interchange replacements, originally unlimited, was capped.
Committee chair Jim Gavin said in September that the FRC was also recommending that the GAA look at interchange substitutes in the future.
“The data we’re seeing is that high-speed running is through the roof. We see a lot more kick passing, a lot more of shots on goal in the game.”
Proposals for interchange never made it to November’s special congress but given the clamour of managers, the idea could make a reappearance when the committee reviews the impact of the rules at the end of the league season. Seán Moran
Galway show ingenuity to take advantage of Shane Walsh’s talent
Week Two of the new rules and already the smartest coaches are shaking the trees to see what might fall out. In Castlebar on Sunday, Galway found a novel use for the one-on-one throw-in that now starts both halves. John Maher went into the middle for the start of the second half but although the rule says your other midfielder has to go and stand on the sideline, it naturally doesn’t specify who that other midfielder has to be.
So Galway made it Shane Walsh. They posted him on the sideline opposite the main stand in MacHale Park, meaning that when Maher muscled Conor Reid out of the way to gather the referee’s throw-up, Walsh was already on his bike in a world of space and heading for goal. Maher dished it off, Walsh took a hop and a solo and calmly split the posts from outside the arc for a two-point score.
Clearly, there’s a lesson there for everyone. Not every team has Shane Walsh in it but every team has at least one player who they would dream of finding in 50 yards of space with his nominal marker stranded over on the opposite sideline. If the rules stays in the long term, surely that’s a recipe for the easiest two points that David Clifford, Shane McGuigan, Darragh Canavan, Con O’Callaghan, etc will score in any game.
The next job will be for teams to work out how to counter it. Mayo can’t say they weren’t warned – Walsh had taken up the same position at the start of the first half so they presumably knew he would do it again. The mistake they made was to put a rookie like Reid in against a Footballer of the Year candidate in Maher, leaving Mattie Ruane at a loose end on the other sideline.
Maybe they could argue that they were fighting fire with fire – as in, if Reid had won the ball and sent Ruane away, Walsh obviously wasn’t going to be able to chase him down. But it seemed a big risk to take. On a day when Galway seemed far more au fait with the realities of the new rules, they got punished to the full extent. Malachy Clerkin
Carlow should be targeted for hurling investment after history victory
Five clubs contested the 2024 Carlow senior hurling championship.
Naomh Bríd withdrew from the competition last summer, leaving a quintet of teams to sort out the county’s premier hurling championship.
Of Carlow’s 26-man panel against Waterford on Sunday, those five clubs (St Mullin’s, Mount Leinster Rangers, Ballinkillen, Bagenalstown Gaels, Naomh Eoin) provided 24 players.
It can be glib and patronising to say Carlow are punching above their weight – “Aren’t they a great bunch of lads” kind of vibe. But not highlighting and recognising their historic first competitive victory over Waterford would also be a mistake.
They are unbeaten in Division 1B so far this season – drawing with Offaly in their opening game before last weekend’s 2-21 to 1-19 win over Waterford.
Carlow drew with Kilkenny in last year’s Leinster SHC but they will play in the Joe McDonagh Cup this season because of the current promotion-relegation system in place in. There are no such relegation threats to teams in the Munster SHC.
Now, it should also be noted that following that draw with Kilkenny last May – in their next outing Carlow got hammered by 26 points against Wexford. So, finding that level of consistency remains a challenge. But they should be helped along on that journey.
Just last month, the GAA announced Willie Maher as the association’s new head of hurling. It is the latest iteration of the position, and a job title the GAA has constantly rejigged and muddled around with over the years – bus driver, facilitator of transport, person at the wheel.
If the GAA really is serious about growing the game, places like Carlow should be prioritised and targeted – it is a county where there is a very clear and obvious grá to do so.
There are plenty of other locations around the country where investment in hurling will prove to be little more than a form of window dressing. Whether the GAA want to admit it or not, there remain places where folk continue to see hurling as a bit of a nuisance, getting in the way of football.
But in counties like Carlow and Laois and Westmeath and Antrim, there is so much potential. As Maher sets out on his journey as the GAA’s new hurling head honcho, that potential should be harnessed. Gordon Manning
Are we seeing a new Limerick?
In the league, the strength of every team selection is expressed as a fraction of their expected championship line-up. “Half a team,” is the off-the-peg summation when the guessing gets hairy. With Limerick, though, nobody is sure any more.
In the absence from the starting 15 of Declan Hannon, Aaron Gillane, Seamus Flanagan, Darragh O’Donovan, Mike Casey, Barry Nash, Peter Casey, David Reidy, Cathal O’Neill and Tom Morrissey on Saturday night was that “half a team” or less than half? Will all of them get back in? If so, where?
Limerick started with three forwards who were on the bench for the All-Ireland semi-final last year, and another who wasn’t in the 26 that day. Of those, Shane O’Brien pushed hard last year and even though he was quiet on Saturday night he must be on the verge of a breakthrough season.
Kyle Hayes’ commanding performance at centre back against Cork will add to the suggestion that Hannon’s time in the number six jersey may be at an end. But would they get more from Hayes as an attacking force on the flank?
During a stellar career Diarmuid Byrnes’ lack of pace was never raised as a serious issue until last year. Colin Coughlan came on to the panel as a very young player in 2021, but pace has been the question mark over him from the beginning. In the two games that Limerick lost to Cork last year, their defence was done for pace.
Adam English will be given a chance to establish himself at centrefield and all the indications are that Jason Gillane is significantly ahead of Shane Dowling as Nickie Quaid’s interim replacement. After a tricky start on Saturday night Gillane was composed and his striking was terrific – including for two long-range frees.
Barry Murphy was given a speculative run in the Barry Nash role – an attacker converted to a corner back – but there is no chance of Nash being unseated. Elsewhere, though, Limerick will be looking for change. Denis Walsh
Goalkeeper overloads need to be looked at in the new rules
The more games we see under the new football rules, the better idea we get of what sort of game they’re going to create. And the better we’re able to tell what should stay and what should go.
Some have settled in very well – the solo and go, the kick-out arc, the 3v3, the cracking down on all the messing and delaying that used to go on when people were looking to take quick frees. If we end up with just those four changes, it’s a different sport entirely.
Some of the grey area changes are a little annoying. The idea that only captains are allowed to question decisions was always going to be overly draconian but it’s either a rule or it isn’t.
Referees are taking a common-sense approach in most of the games so far, which is obviously all to the good. But if that’s how it’s going to be, they should scrap the rule. Otherwise, it will be applied someday when nobody is expecting it and all hell will break loose.
But besides all that, the one rule that sticks out like a sore thumb is the latitude given to goalkeepers to come up the pitch and create a 12v11. The problem with it is very simple – rules in any sport have a responsibility to be fair. Handing an attacking team an extra player who can’t be paired up against – at least not without leaving your net empty – is inherently unfair.
All the other rules promote the skills or values of the game in one way or another. In any team sport, creating an overload in an attacking area of the pitch takes huge skill, thought and cohesion. This requires nothing more than a goalkeeper coming up the pitch and getting involved – even if that’s only running around as a decoy, as Dublin’s goalie Gavin Sheridan kept doing against Donegal on Saturday night.
Loads of the new rules are terrific and look like breathing life into the sport. This one is inherently flawed and should be binned. Malachy Clerkin
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