Micko brands yellow card rule ‘a joke’

New Clare football manager Mick O’Dwyer has described the yellow card rule as “a joke”.

The Football Review Committee (FRC) have recommended the rule, last seen in the 2010 National League on a trial basis, be introduced and it is set to be voted on at March’s Congress in Derry.

“For God’s sake, this interfering with cards, the one yellow card, that’s a joke,” O’Dwyer told Raidió Corca Baiscinn. “Because if you just pull a jersey you’ll get a yellow card and you’re gone for the game. It’s crazy.”

Although national referees’ chairman Pat McEnaney clarified to the Irish Examiner one jersey pull won’t constitute a yellow card, O’Dwyer is livid with the proposal.

However he is backing at least three of the FRC’s recommendations. “The [scrapping of the] pick-up, I certainly would agree with. The mark in the middle of the field for the kick-outs — I think that’s a good one as well. And the clock.” O’Dwyer wants to see the championship return to a knock-out style as he believes the qualifier system only suits the bigger football teams.

“It has benefited the strong counties. Teams like Kerry, Tyrone and Galway have won All-Irelands through the backdoor.

“You’ll get a chance of beating a strong county on one occasion but by God you won’t do it the second time. A so-called weaker county can catch them on a given day and that’s it. I think the Championship should be knock-out and that’s it.”

O’Dwyer appreciates Clare is primarily a hurling county and forecasts Davy Fitzgerald’s team will win an All-Ireland within the next three years.

But he is eagerly looking forward to Cork’s Munster quarter-final visit to Clare next May.

“The immediate goal is that we get out of Division 4. But the big thing, I think, will be to try and hammer Cork if we can and that’ll be a fair job to be done.

“I’m a championship man ever and that’s the situation. I was never a great man for the leagues, I can assure you. It was the championship I was always after.

“The reason for that is I played in nine league finals and won eight of them. I played in 10 All-Ireland senior finals and lost six of them.”

O’Dwyer dispelled the idea good runs in the league provide a good platform for the championship.

“That’s rubbish in my opinion. Players can often play well in the league and when you often put them out in the championship they don’t perform as well as they did. Championship is the real test of footballers.”

Clare begin their McGrath Cup campaign when Limerick IT come to Milltown Malbay on Sunday.

O’Dwyer has held a number of trial games but admits he wasn’t convinced by the players’ quality at the outset.

“The first trials that I had, I didn’t think too much of them, to be very honest. But we have had about four trials since and there is massive improvement.”

The Waterville man argues Clare need to instil themselves with the same self-belief senior county champions Kilmurry-Ibrickane had when they scared Dr Crokes in their Munster quarter-final in November.

“They were able to compete with Crokes players and there’s about eight of them on the Kerry senior panel at the present time.

“That proves one thing that it’s only all about belief and if we can instil that belief into the players that we have in Clare we will be able to compete and we’ll certainly be going places.”

O’Dwyer confirmed he won’t approach dual players in Clare who make themselves available to Fitzgerald’s hurlers.

“I had dual players in Wicklow but I know in Clare if a player has a real chance of getting on the hurling team he’ll definitely concentrate on playing hurling.

“I don’t see anything wrong with that and we won’t have anything to do with that player. But if there are any dual players that would like to play football we’d accommodate them as well but Davy will have his players selected.

“If there are players left behind we’ll take them by all means.”