Rebels to support one-v-one hurling penalties at Congress debate

Cork will support one-v-one hurling penalties when the topic is debated at the upcoming GAA Congress in Cavan.

At last night’s county board meeting at the Nemo Rangers complex in Trabeg, delegates voted overwhelming in favour of motion 21, proposed by the Hurling 20/20 Committee, where only one defending player would stand on the goal-line for a penalty and three would defend a 20m free.

Another motion, from Tipperary club JB Brackens, seeking to bring in a rule whereby all drawn championship games would go to extra-time, received strong opposition.

Last year, the Tipperary SFC ran until late December as a result of the county’s involvement in the All-Ireland SHC final replay, but Murphy believes the motion is a knee-jerk reaction.

“It’s a radical and unnecessary motion,” he said.

“The county where it comes from have had their difficulties, but we have been in All-Ireland finals also and finished our championships in time, we didn’t have to wait until St Stephen’s Day.

“There is huge promotional advantage in such games and a great deal of finance is generated, which is fed back into the association. If the All-Ireland minor final ends in a draw, are we going to put back the senior final, or have the minor game starting unduly early?”

Cork also opposed en masse the motions relating to the introduction of a black card in hurling to deal with cynical fouling.

The motion to stop yellow cards incurred in normal time carrying into extra time was passed after a vote, while a vote was taken on the introduction of an advantage rule in hurling. This was carried 64 to 58.

Also at the board meeting, Ronan McCarthy was reappointed as a Cork senior football selector. McCarthy was ratified as a selector on the recommendation of senior manager Brian Cuthbert. The Douglas clubman had been coach and selector during the 2014 season but stepped down after Cork’s campaign ended due to work commitments.

Speaking to the official Cork GAA website, Cuthbert said he was “delighted” to welcome McCarthy back. “It was always the intention Ronan would return to the management team later in the season,” he said.