Ciarán Brady: 'New rules are bringing back that bit of honesty to the game'

Ciaran Brady of Cavan in action against Ciaráin Murtagh of Roscommon during the Allianz Football League Division 2 match. File picture: Tom Beary/Sportsfile

Cavan’s Ciarán Brady believes the new rules have reintroduced honesty to Gaelic football.

Ahead of Sunday’s Ulster quarter-final against Tyrone, defender Brady says there is no longer safety in numbers and there is more of an emphasis on the art of being able to defend one-on-one.

“There's more space,” he says. “Attacks are normally ending with a shot. That's one stat that's hugely different. Most attacks, teams are getting between 30 and 40 attacks. They're getting 28 to 32 shots, which wouldn't have been the case beforehand. Definitely, the shots to attack ratio is up.

“Some defenders mightn't like it, but then deep down there's nothing better than going toe to toe with a forward as well. It's bringing back that bit of honesty where it's you against your man, which probably hadn't been in the game the last few years. It was tough in the corner forward.

“I would have seen it myself. Out around the middle, you're watching the cornerbacks are getting a lot of help. The ball's turned over. The legs, after standing, the ball never went into the full forward.

“The legs to get up the other end of the field. It's (previously) been monotonous running for the large part of things. I know some full-backs and corner-backs ended up with goals. But large parts, they're just running to the other end of the field just to take the legs of the forward.” 

In Omagh, Arva man Brady and Cavan will be looking to go one better than last year when Tyrone required extra-time to see them off in the provincial quarter-final. It was a relatively short Ulster championship just as the previous three have been since they lifted the Anglo-Celt Cup in 2020.

“The other way of looking at it is maybe that (2020 success) was at the end of it,” stresses Brady. “We brought Tyrone to a replay in 2016 – I think Armagh then in 2018. We got to our Ulster final in 2019, we won it in 2020. So maybe another way of looking at it is that was coming to the end. And we had to rebuild again after that. Maybe that was the case.

“We couldn't be in any more of a competitive Ulster championship at the minute. You look at Tyrone, Donegal, Armagh — every team has their house in order. Last year we were in a preliminary round. You beat Monaghan, you go in and play Tyrone in a quarter-final. You go to extra-time with them. You lose by a point. Then you're out and the season fizzled out for us.

“Whereas if you get over Tyrone, you're back in the semi-final. So, look it, we've had our ups and downs. I think everyone has them in sport. Maybe at times we haven't shown consistency. But I think we're showing good signs again that maybe we're on an upward trajectory hopefully.”