New rules frustrate Ger Cunningham

Ger Cunningham took aim at the new advantage rule following his side’s defeat to Cork. Yesterday was the measure’s big debut and the Dublin manager found fault with the administering of it.

Aware of the possibility of a sideline ban, Cunningham didn’t criticise referee James Owens for failing to award Mark Schutte what appeared a clear-cut free in injury-time just before Seamus Harnedy’s winning point.

However, he expressed concern about how the advantage rule, which allows referees to call back the play if the fouled player hasn’t made a gain, was operated. “This advantage rule, obviously it was the first time really we had a chance to look at it today. A player doesn’t know that he has advantage if the referee is behind him with his hand up, and that kind of stuff.

“So again, there were a couple of opportunities certainly … unless you stop now or just drop the ball down and get the advantage, but you don’t know that you have the free.”

Cunningham admitted it might be a teething problem. “It’s the first time we’ve had a chance to see it in a really competitive game and see how it works. It’s in, we’ve to learn to live with it and work with it and see how we can take advantage of it.”

Regarding the Schutte incident, Cunningham said it was “a definite free” but admitted: “I’ve got to be careful because with the new rules, you can’t say much because there’s obviously a danger of repercussions if you do. I better say nothing.”

He conceded Dublin’s wide count of 15 were costly. “The ones at the end, I suppose, were the ones that counted, really. When it came right down to the wire, we had a couple of chances, really — a point or two points would have been a big lift to us, because the game had swung against us at that stage.

“Again, we had our chances and I suppose that’s what we’ve got to take away from it. At least we put ourselves in a situation of getting chances. We didn’t take them today; they went against us; but we’ll take the learnings from that.”

Cunningham dismissed the psychological impact of losing a 12-point lead to Cork. “How many times have we seen a situation where people lose big leads? The wind today was a factor, they had momentum with a couple of points here and there, the (Paudie O’Sullivan) goal was probably the turning point of the game.

“It brought them right back into the game, we came back and got a point but a couple of things at the end, maybe our decision-making wasn’t the best. I’d have no worries about that.”

Danny Sutcliffe was replaced by Paul Ryan just before throw-in having damaged his hamstring in the warm-up.