Hurling’s free-taking debate will shape summer

ANTHONY Nash may have tagged in Patrick Horgan on Sunday but we haven’t seen the last of the goalkeeper’s thunderbolts. Not by a, ahem, long shot.

Were Horgan inclined with his first-half 22-metre free, he might have replicated his team-mate’s swashbuckling style, and brought the ball past the 20m line before shooting.

That was within his powers because of the black card blind spot highlighted last week and supposedly addressed by the GAA.

Only it wasn’t.

In a press release last Thursday, it was stated all frees were to be treated the same. Basically, like in football: to be struck on or before the area where the free was awarded.

Speaking to a senior referees’ official before the game in Thurles on Sunday, that was his understanding too. We indulged ourselves in the idea of hurling aping the World Cup and arming referees with spray cans to mark the spot for free-takers.

Yet the previous evening, in Wexford Park, it was as if nothing changed. Alan McCrabbe and Paul Morris were striking frees and 65s beyond where they were awarded.

The following afternoon, Horgan and Colin Ryan carried on regardless apart from the Cork marksman measuring his run-up to hit the ball before the 20m line for his penalty.

The message coming from Croke Park today is that the rule interpretation only applies to penalties and 20m frees. It is but the latest addition to a by now rather sorry saga of clarification upon clarification upon clarification.

This is the second occasion in the space of a week that the GAA have created confusion about the rule, the first occurrence last week when lifting the ball was deemed striking it.

The irony about this latest development is it’s the very reason why the original motion to address the penalty and 20m free concern was shelved on the eve of this year’s Congress. At the time, it was highlighted that the proposed rule change as it was written would affect all frees, which was not the intention. Fearing a heavy defeat at Congress and the possibility of not being able to be voted on again at next year’s meeting, it was removed from the Clár.

As the GAA have discovered, distinguishing penalties and 20m frees from the main body of frees is a lot trickier than they imagined.

Frank Murphy might have vested interests on the matter but as chairman of their rules advisory committee, he surely would have made them aware of that.

What’s followed since has been nothing but calamitous, events which Cork chairman Bob Ryan rightly says has left the game in disarray.

Poor communication has been at the heart of it. Nobody knew until it was too late that Stephen O’Keeffe was allowed to do what he did last Sunday week. Not even O’Keeffe himself. Six days later and his act of bravery was outlawed.

Horgan only learned of the new penalty measure after training last Tuesday evening. It meant he, Tony Kelly and their fellow designated penalty takers in Wexford Park the previous evening, had little or no time to develop a new technique.

So are the GAA damned if they do and damned if they don’t? Not exactly. Insisting that all frees and 65s be taken from where they were awarded makes a lot of sense. It would force a lot of free-takers breaking the habit of a lifetime but would ensure close-range frees outside the 20m line are treated just the same as those on it and penalties.

But now the odds of converting a goal from a 22 or 23m free are shorter than a 20m one or a penalty. That is so, so wrong.

There’s an element of GAA officialdom that can’t wait for this championship to end. Who can blame them? The longer it goes on, the more chance they have of being shown up again.

And who would put it past Nash putting it past his opposite number to do just that?

Long lay-offs count against provincial champs

Momentum. You just can’t beat it. Cork had it spades on Sunday and it quite clearly was the difference between themselves and Clare.

Following the trend in recent years, it should have come as little surprise that they were so good on the day and Clare weren’t. Teams left standing cold have been caught cold.

Take a look at how poorly provincial champions, bar Kilkenny and the rare exception of Tipperary and Galway, have performed in All-Ireland semi-finals. “Rewarded” with five- and six-week lay-offs, they have invariably struggled to reach the pitch of games. The All-Ireland champions, with an eight-week break, were up against it.

Clare may find succour in the fact no Munster finalist has won an All-Ireland in the last 10 seasons. Three of the last four titles have been won by back door teams. Look at Dublin’s mammoth run in Leinster last year and how it served them so well. There was a time when the shorter run to an All-Ireland final was coveted. That doesn’t appear to be the case anymore.

Black card calls put more men in the dock

We’re seriously considering a black card jury and would ask the GAA do something similar on a Championship Monday to bring more clarity to a measure that is quite clearly struggling to bed down.

Those who stand charged after the weekend: Darren McCurry (not guilty); Dermot Malone (guilty), Darren Hughes (not guilty); Shane Ahearne (not guilty).

Those who should stand: Sean Cavanagh and Daniel St Ledger.

Eddie Kinsella’s generally good day at the office in Clones was spoiled by the final 10 minutes of the game where he made three incorrect black card calls, including two with Cavanagh. Having said that, any referee would have been hoodwinked by Cavanagh in the incident, which saw Hughes sent to the line.

In Newstalk’s commentary on Sunday, former Down star Conor Deegan praised Kinsella for not taking out the black card early in the game. Much like Ger Loughnane’s comment about Brian O’Sullivan’s strike on Damien Cahalane, that’s exactly the attitude we do not need. n Email: [e-mail]