Roscommon embrace positive new rules

I imagine my son asking me in years to come, in disbelief, “Daddy, was football really as bad as they say it was back then?”

The vision for this new era of Gaelic football is to make it the most exciting amateur sport in the world to both play and watch. So far, so good in my book.

Let’s jump straight in and talk about the big changes that were noticeable on the first weekend. I was at Roscommon’s game against Down game and caught most of the Galway/Armagh game on television on Saturday evening.

The rise in the amount of contested kickouts was astonishing. Time after time in the Hyde, the ball was kicked out to the midfield area with a plethora of bodies ready to attack it. This sets the scene for more one on one battles, great catches, and lads diving in on breaking ball. It’s great to watch.

Another big success straight off the bat was the tap and go free kick. I hadn’t anticipated it having such an impact but it was very clear from early on in games that players are keen on using it. It means a lot of the cynical fouls now have no value as the fouled player generally just elects to play on, and so the game doesn’t get slowed down as before.

Those were the two most successful changes after the opening weekend for me. As I said before, we’ll need to take time before making a full judgement, but the early signs are definitely positive.

The 3v3 shape had an impact too, although my feeling is that it will have a much greater impact as teams adapt better to the idea of quicker attacking play.

Ciaráin Murtagh’s goal was a mighty advert for proponents of the 3v3 system, and also for those who hate to see the wandering goalkeepers. Colm Neary made a superb block and because we had the three lads left up front we were able to transfer it quickly to Murtagh who finished expertly from distance with the wanderer — in this case Down goalkeeper, John O’Hare — scrambling forlornly to retreat to his goal.

There was still a large degree of over-and-back lateral passing around the top of the arc. This was very evident in both games I watched. Defences set up on the edge of the scoring area and attackers were very cautious about taking them on.

With time and practice, attacking teams will realise they are more than capable of punching holes in an 11 man defence and that there’s no need to be so cautious in possession. In this way, I think we’ll see an increase in the pace of attacks as the league wears on.

All four teams I watched at the weekend elected to bring their goalkeeper into attack frequently. It seems to be an accepted certainty that this tactic will be employed by all teams at county level anyway. I’m still not buying it.

Very often, the attacking keepers brought very little to the party. They just took handpasses and shovelled it on to the next player in line. Conor Carroll was a bit better than the others in that he did try to skip a few players with his passes and open up some attacking space.

For me though, if keepers are coming forward to create an attacking overload, they need to be helping to punch holes in the defence and making an impact up there. My feeling is that teams will get better at playing pop passes into the full-forward line and thereby attack quicker, thus negating the value of a goalkeeper coming up to join them.

Down were probably the quickest of the four teams in terms of the directness of the attack — they just failed to get enough ball up there to win the game.

There were just a few questions in my head coming away from the Hyde. Why was there no countdown clock and hooter? And what about the vanishing foam? I thought it was to be used to mark the spot for free-kicks but I didn’t spot it once over the weekend.

And while I’m liking the new Roscommon jersey, could they make the numbers easier to read for supporters?

Let’s take a closer look now at that Roscommon v Down game. Thirty-six scores. Good fielding. Plenty of tackling and turnovers. Big blocks. A great penalty save. Long distance scores. And all that in wet, blustery conditions on a slippery pitch. What’s not to like?

HAPPY CAMPERS

I expect the Roscommon camp will be very happy with the start. I heard Davy Burke being interviewed by Willie Hegarty after the game and he seemed to hint that he felt we might have been a bit undercooked coming into the first game in light of playing much fewer challenge matches in preparation than most others.

That probably tallies with the performance. While lots of players showed up well at different junctures, no one really put in a very impressive 70-minute display. In fact, if one was picking a Man of the Match, I’d say there were a few Down players who would have been right up at the top of the list.

Pat Havern at full-forward was a danger every time he touched the ball and his kicking was excellent, finishing with 11 points (including four two-pointers). Odhran Murdock was probably the most influential player in the middle third on the pitch and I was also very impressed with their centre-back, Pierce Laverty.

Roscommon had a greater spread of quality performers overall though. The impact of our bench was crucial in this regard. All the subs made positive impacts on the game.

There were, I think, four debuts on Sunday, along with the return of another six lads who didn’t figure last year for one reason or another. That’s a lot of change. It’s a very positive sign that all that change was so seamless. That’s a good marker that this group is in a good place.

Colm Neary was very good. Whispers that he had been flying it in training seem to have been accurate. He’s a lad who had an unfortunate injury setback last year but it seems he’s got himself back in great nick. It’s mighty for him and a boost for the county too.

The Lambe brothers, Senan and Tim, are both really good prospects in the half-back line. I’m not sure we’ve seen that before where two brothers make their county debut on the same day, with one replacing the other. What a day for their family.

I remember seeing the elder brother, Tim, in my role as a teacher at a Cumann na mBunscol blitz about 12 years ago. He was the best player on view that day. It’s remarkable however how many lads who are the best at that age fail to maintain that level throughout the rest of their underage days and into senior.

Obviously, that’s not the case with this fella. He was one of the best players in the club championship last year and it’s great to see him finally break through onto the senior county team.

The positioning of Shane Cunnane at six was a surprising move. I’d say he did well enough there to warrant having another look at it next week anyway. He was good in possession and picked his moments to attack well.

I wouldn’t necessarily blame him in particular but a weak point of this team from last year continued into this season in terms of our ability to defend late runners through the middle of our defence. We struggled badly last year dealing with attacking wing-backs and I thought again on Sunday that Down opened us up too easily at times, with strong support runners coming onto a handpass through the middle.

That’s just one area that I’d like to see improved on over the next few weeks.

Overall, from both a Roscommon and state-of-the-game perspective, it was a successful opening weekend.

*Please continue to send your thoughts and ideas for this column to me at mfinneran.mf@gmail.com