Black card won’t combat negative play, warns McNulty

Laois coach Enda McNulty is adamant the introduction of the black card will have no impact in curbing cynicism in the game.

McNulty commended Séan Cavanagh for his rugby tackle on Conor McManus in Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final, stressing that such incidences will be commonplace again next season despite a player having to leave the field if shown a black card.

“I don’t think it will be sufficient, definitely not,” he said. “If you had asked me in 2002, in the last minute of the All-Ireland final with one of the Kerry lads bearing down on goal, just about to score a goal and it flashed through my mind, ‘Enda, you have to take this man down, if you take him down you are going to get a black card and therefore leave this pitch, but Armagh are still going to win the All-Ireland’, what do you think I would have done?

“There is always going to be a ‘whatever it takes’ mentality to win games. In Gaelic Games our only reward as players is that we can be competitive and be successful, and you are going to do all you can within the rules to try and win the game. If you had a different mindset, to be honest, you are not going to win any trophies.”

The All-Ireland winning corner-back says it is the tackle technique which needs to be addressed, questioning whether Cavanagh could have halted the progress of the Monaghan forward with a legitimate challenge.

The foul provoked an outburst of criticism from RTÉ pundit Joe Brolly and McNulty admits to have been genuinely shocked by Brolly’s attack on the Tyrone midfielder, claiming that some of his former Derry team-mates were guilty of such cynical play.

“I would have no difficulty whatsoever with what Séan Cavanagh done. I would commend Séan Cavanagh for what he done, he could have done it with more tackling capability, but he certainly had to stop that guy scoring a goal.

“I couldn’t believe what Joe said. I was very surprised. I marked Joe in championship matches and I also know players who Joe played alongside on the Derry team, incredibly strong, tough people, but ruthless too.

“I think Joe is looking at this from a marquee forwards point of view. I know if you contact a hundred full-backs, corner-backs, half-backs and centre-backs, they would say ‘I wish more of our own team would do more of that’.”

In light of Tyrone’s recent performances against both Meath and Monaghan, cynicism has become the new buzzword in GAA circles, but McNulty maintains a cynical nature has always been evident in the game.

“I don’t see more cynicism, I see more tactical expertise and development input into the game. When I started playing in 1996, ’97, the game was much heavier and harder than when I left in 2008 and 2009.

“If anybody wants to look at cynicism they need to get a video out of the great Dublin and Kerry games in the 70s. You had cynicism in the great Dublin and Kerry games, Dublin versus Armagh, Derry versus Cork. Any of those games you will see there were huge levels of physicality, massive levels of physicality.

“Was there guys taken out of it or putting their arms around others? No, maybe they weren’t putting their arms around their waist; an elbow to the head coming in a really mistimed tackle, do I see that as a new phenomenon? Not at all.”

Monaghan’s Conor McManus accepts Cavanagh “did what he had to do” in denying the Monaghan forward a gilt-edged goal opportunity.

“It has been talked about fairly widely at this stage, most people would do the same thing in that scenario,” McManus said on Newstalk’s Off the Ball programme.

“Put it this way, I’d rather be in an All Ireland semi-final. You’d have to do it, wouldn’t you?

“A goal was going to be a big score in that game, be it us or Tyrone that got it. I think a goal would have been a decisive score, there is no guarantee I would have got it, but we’re out of an All-Ireland semi-final now as a result.”

Though asserting that the presence of the black card on Saturday would have been of advantage to Monaghan, McManus believes its introduction next year will only lead to more controversy.

“Ultimately, if we were playing Tyrone without Séan Cavanagh it would have made a serious difference to us.

“There are pluses and minuses to the black card, but I think the biggest problem with the rules we have now and any rules that come in the future, be it the black card, is the consistency that they are dealt with.”