Micheál Aodh Martin: 'There's no point pretending; it is probably going back in time a small bit'

Micheál Aodh Martin believes with the new rule of not being allowed to pass the ball back to the keeper there is a space for short kick outs.

ROOM FOR SHORT KICKOUT: Micheál Aodh Martin feels the game has slowed down with the new rules of the 40m kickout. Pic: Tom Beary/Sportsfile

There were plenty vocal and plenty more critical on the debut weekend of football’s new clothes. Neither category properly fits Cork goalkeeper Micheál Aodh Martin. Rash or disapproving he wasn’t. Observational were his views.

Lining out in the Cork number one shirt for the first time since last March, Martin was always going to enjoy the view in front of him at Páirc Uí Chaoimh early on Saturday evening. That view was significantly “more condensed”, not less, on account of the new book football is now played by.

“Definitely more positive than negative,” was his headline assessment of that new book and its still-to-be-fully-grasped contents.

Digging down into the various alterations, it was no surprise that Martin’s views were most nuanced when it came to the rules directly impacting on what he can and cannot do. Off the kicking tee, he cannot deliver a restart that doesn’t travel beyond the 40-metre arc.

In Saturday’s successful league opener, he counted only two Cork restarts that were chipped smartly out to just beyond the arc, Meath just one. Everything else was sent long for contesting.

The diktat that all restarts must travel a minimum 40 metres, opined the Cork goalkeeper, is slowing the game down.

“Nearly everything's going long, a lot of bodies out there. That's one, I don't know will they look at it again,” said Martin following Cork’s four-point win over Meath.

“Personally, I think that because of the other rule changes, that actually the quick kick-out isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world, if they brought that back in. Because you can't go back to your goalkeeper, it has to go forward.

“So I actually think [the long kick-out] is nearly slowing the game down at the moment, but look, that's just an opinion. Some people love the contest. I get that too, and don't have a problem with it. I don't mind kicking out long.

“There's no point pretending; it is probably going back in time a small bit. There's not a lot of space out there because the forwards have less space to defend.” 

As with so many games over the weekend, the restart stats had a break-even look about them. Cork won 14 of their own, lost 18. Meath won 12, lost 9.

“We've all gotten used to 80,90% retention over the last couple of years and both teams tonight were way below that.

“So yeah, it's one to keep watching. I'd be interested to see what other teams are doing. We're all probably learning at the moment. We're not used to that lack of space. Like the pitch is much more condensed now from the keeper's point of view, because it has to go outside that 40m arc.” 

Meath’s Billy Hogan was certainly the more active of the goalkeepers at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in encroaching forward to provide a 12v11 overlap in the opposition half.

Hogan was resident in Cork territory to collect a pass as early as the 27th second. Yes, 27 seconds, not minutes. The Meath number one later came forward to kick a second-half point.

More cautious in venturing forward, Martin was a second-half withdrawal because of a leg injury. In carrying out his primary duty prior to that departure, he did get down well to keep out a Jordan Morris first half goal drive.

When the green flag was returned to its long-standing three-point value by the Football Review Committee, having initially been trialed as worth four, Martin reckoned he might be less busy for it. Forward focus, he mused, would be on firing over two-pointers. Not so, he now concludes.

“I would have had a fear a couple of months ago that maybe goals would be gone, with the difference between a two-pointer and a three-pointer.

“But actually, what we're finding so far is that because it's much harder to develop a sweeper - you don't really have an option to develop a sweeper - that actually it's quite a lot of goal chances in every game. There's a lot more one-on-one battles.

“And the three up means that there's kind of 10 to 15 seconds where lads have them versus their man, so lots of goal chances, which is great for supporters.

“Definitely you can see there's more space for forwards, more scores. That's what people ultimately pay in for, to see exciting forwards get to run at their men, go for goal. So yeah, that's definitely positive.”

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