Ireland squad go back to school for revision over rule changes

Referee Hugh Dallas was a high profile visitor to the Ireland team hotel in Portmarnock on Monday night to advise the players about the myriad rule changes which will come into play for Euro 2016.

While some are cosmetic – players’ under-shorts or tights must now match their shorts – and some are minor but will nevertheless change the habits of a lifetime – such as the ball no longer needing to go forward at kick-off – others could have a significant impact on proceedings in France.

One of the most striking innovations is that the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity in the box no longer means an automatic red card – it will now be at the referee’s discretion to decide if, for example, it was a legitimate but ill-timed challenge which denied the player the strike on goal.

And, of interest to Robbie Keane should he make it onto the pitch in France will be a change in the law governing the penalty kick. Players who feint to kick the ball after they’ve completed their run-up will be booked for unsporting behaviour – although a feint during the run-up will still be allowed. Also, goalkeepers who come off their line will be booked.

In amendments to the offside rule, hands and arms will not be included when judging offside while free-kicks can be taken from where the offside player received the ball.

And, before a ball is even kicked, referees will be permitted to send players off for a serious transgression in the tunnel – though both teams would still be able to start with 11 players, the offending player’s team losing a substitute instead.

The rule changes were trialled at the England-Turkey friendly in Wembley and, while Hugh Dallas has updated the Irish and legendary Italian referee Pierluigi Collina has done likewise for group opponents Italy, all the participating nations at the Euros will have been brought up to speed by various assigned referees.

There was a brief shadow cast on a sun-splashed open training session in front of a few thousand squealing school-children at the Aviva yesterday when Shane Long was seen to withdraw from the action with an apparent injury.

However, it was later indicated that it was a minor issue relating to his knee and that the curtailment of his involvement was purely precautionary.

James McCarthy looked on from the stands as he sat out another day’s training but to give his groin/thigh problem some more recovery time while, down on the pitch, Ciaran Clark continued to work on his own with the physios.

“It’s just my achilles, a kick that took time to settle down,” the Aston Villa defender explained afterwards. “Hopefully I will be back involved with the lads soon and I hope to be involved on Friday (against the Netherlands), all being well.”