Loughnane: Summer of ‘schmozzles’ ahead if penalty rules not sorted

By Peter O’ Dwyer

Former Clare All-Ireland winning manager Ger Loughnane feels that this season’s hurling championship could be plagued by goalmouth incidents if the rules governing penalties are not addressed.

The RTÉ pundit thinks that not only are those defending a penalty now potentially at risk of injury, but so too is the penalty taker.

Loughnane was speaking in the Sunday Game following an incident in Sunday’s Munster quarter-final replay between Cork and Waterford where goalkeeper Stephen O’ Keefe charged down an Anthony Nash penalty having left his goal line.

Following the save, a number of players from both sides got involved in a melee around the goalmouth as Cork players protested the tactic and O’ Keefe shouldered his opposite number to the ground.

O’ Keefe was just yards from Nash by the time the penalty was struck, something Loghnane thinks is dangerous and could result in further "schmozzles" if not addressed.

“Now the man who is in danger is actually the striker of the ball because people are going to rush him and the danger is they’ll keep going and [go] right through him.

“So we’re facing a summer of goalmouth schmozzles if this isn’t addressed. The GAA should address it, they shouldn’t wait until next year’s congress, they should address it immediately,” he said.

As the rule states that once the ball is touched it is in play, O’ Keefe was perfectly entitled within the rules of the game to bear down on Nash as he did.

With the so-called “Anthony Nash penalty” already a hot topic for discussion, it’s likely however that O’ Keefe’s tactic will bring the issue into sharper focus once again.

Despite Loughnane’s calls for the issue to be addressed immediately, GAA President Liam O’ Neill this morning said that any rule change is not possible until congress meets.

“We can’t address it until congress,” he said on RTÉ Radio 1. “We can’t stop the championship halfway through and change the rules. We did try to address this at congress.

"The rule we tried to bring in would have affected all frees. We wanted it for 21-yard frees. Cork vehemently opposed it.

“What we want to do is have the ball placed somewhere outside the 21, ideally in the D somewhere and struck before the 20-metre line and we will address it at the next congress.”

(h/t: RTÉ)