Penalties will never be the same
For every action there’s an equal but opposite reaction, right?
When Eamon O’Shea said last month he preferred not to talk about penalties, we suspected he had an Anthony Nash or TJ Reid of his own up his sleeve for Limerick.
We should have read him a lot more literally when he spoke of the importance of defending such penalties as opposed to scoring them. “It’s a tactic, a legitimate tactic and once it’s there, people will get good at it. Some people are really good at it and I think what we’re going to have to get good at now is stopping them.”
Darren Gleeson never did get the chance to maraud against Shane Dowling as he wound up for a piledriver. Stephen O’Keeffe, however, did against Anthony Nash, the now confirmed godfather of the advanced penalty and 20-metre free.
Some might find that ironic and more so that O’Keeffe, with little regard for his welfare, succeeded in making a denying dart towards the rocket.
The “Dash to Nash” or any free or penalty taker for your liking was on the cards because of the quite unusual interpretation that a ball is struck once it is either rolled or jab lifted. An injury-time free from 50 yards out? Fair game to attack.
Thankfully, the GAA last night confirmed they intend ending the confusion by the weekend with definitive guidelines on what can and can’t be done when taking and facing penalties and 20m frees.
Because there was confusion. Whatever about observers and supporters, the most disconcerting issue was that the players themselves seemed totally bewildered by it. Why else would Nash have remonstrated the way he did to referee Johnny Ryan after seeing his shot cannon off the thigh of O’Keeffe? On Twitter on Sunday, Limerick defender Wayne McNamara revealed they had been given a different story by referees in the games they had played. “(We were told) we can’t move until he strikes & picking not included”.
Yet referees, when they met after the National League, knew it was only a case of when, not if, a goalkeeper or defender was going to have the audacity to take a jumping block at such a penalty or free.
Cork clearly didn’t know that. Neither did Limerick. O’Keeffe admits he took it upon himself to chance his arm — or, in this case, leg — to stun Nash. He wasn’t exactly certain he was entitled to do what he did. However, his reasoning was strong: if Nash could advance then why couldn’t he? Just as Nash’s brilliance in technique should be admired, so too should the bravery of O’Keeffe.
But should it really have come to this? Nash shouldn’t be punished for mastering and inspiring a skill that is remarkably difficult to master. Is there a compromise in him being permitted to do the same with a penalty from the 20m line against only the opposing goalkeeper? Right now, that would appear to be the only means of addressing the matter because it sure didn’t feel like a penalty the way O’Keeffe honed in on Nash. As Pat McEnaney said before Christmas, allowing three defenders on the line for penalties never mind a jamboree for 20m frees is tantamount to legislating fouls close to goal. Nash, to be fair to him, more than evened up the odds.
We haven’t mentioned the safety issue because, as much as it is a concern, it wasn’t the true modus operandi behind the push to change the rule. There was more urgency shown because it was an anomaly that needed fixing.
Nash and his followers were always going to be an itch that needed scratching. Penalties will never be the same again.
Putting aside the brouhaha and in some cases, quite snide remarks about another flag controversy in Ulster, what started the unseemly events in Armagh on Sunday was hardly new.
Many a team has stood behind the wrong flag in the pre-match parade and either one of two things have happened: the flag bearer has quietly switched sides or there has been a row. Not to the extent as witnessed in the Athletic Grounds but it’s a well-worn tactic at this stage.
Why was the Cavan flag bearer stationed on the outside, the customary position for the home team? The ensuing violent scenes were hardly her fault but why didn’t anyone ask her to switch with her “Armagh” colleague? As for Paul Grimley, his post-match comments were as remarkable as they were comical. “I think it was blown out of proportion. We’ll probably see this week. A bit of pushing and shoving, that’s all. A few fellas got their jerseys torn. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of coverage on it and so be it. It’ll be up to the people in power to take of it.”
Talk about getting retaliation in early!
Sky Sports made an assured start to life televising GAA games on Saturday.
Smooth and professional, their programme was impressive, particularly the analysis by Jamesie O’Connor (pictured, right). If the hand remains as steady on the tiller for the remainder of the season they’ll do just fine.
RTÉ, on the other hand, have a shop of mannequins to clothe. They’ll never keep everyone happy but the two-hour edition of The Sunday Game was a big improvement on a disjointed show the previous Sunday.
The national broadcasters will be watched closely as they juggle their championship coverage with that of the World Cup. The presence of Sky Sports should ensure RTÉ remain mean although the bizarre word game on The Sunday Game suggests some are too comfortable.
Even at this early stage, it’s obvious that Sky Sports News are the problem for Sky. There were a couple of perceived glitches in Sunday’s report of the Dublin-Laois game with Jack McCaffrey mistaken for Kevin McManamon, and Cormac Costello’s surname pronounced like Elvis.
But then maybe that was a brilliant mistake!
