The new rules are only as good as the canny operators who try to find a way around them. I’ve said from the start that we will only be able to judge the Football Review Committee changes properly when they get pushed to the limit in games that are hot and heavy and full of intensity. They don’t get much hotter or heavier than an Ulster final.
Donegal and Armagh gave us a brilliant provincial final last year – and that was before any rule changes came in. So you’d like to think that the same thing is in store on Saturday.
Down the years, Ulster teams have always been that small step ahead of everybody else when it comes to attention to detail. Sometimes it’s finding little loopholes to exploit, sometimes it’s just covering all the contingencies.
Imagine it comes down to the scenario Mayo faced at the end of the Connacht final. Two points down, the wind at their back, the hooter gone.
I don’t know what Armagh or Donegal will come up with in that moment to make sure they get the right shooter in the right position, but I know they will have planned better for it than Mayo did.
To be fair, Mattie Ruane wasn’t a bad option to take a shot to draw the game against Galway – he had already kicked a two-pointer earlier in the half.
But if you go back to that score just after half-time, he kicked it from the top of the arc. He started his run inside the small arc and came running out on a loop to kick it on the turn. With the wind behind him, he made it as easy as possible on himself.
Now, fast forward to the end of the game. Mayo had the ball as well as the wind. As well as that, both teams were down to 14 men because of the two black cards, so you were looking at 10 v 10 in the Galway half.
There was a world of space somewhere, all they had to do was keep calm and find it. Instead of doing that, they passed the ball around the arc and left Ruane with a tough shot, having to kick across the ball from out on the right.
I didn’t think the two-pointer would become such a big thing in the game so quickly. Turning down potshots had become so ingrained in players at the top level that I thought it would be the kind of thing they’d only turn to as a last resort. But so much of the game is built around creating these chances now and every team has to have systems in place for creating the space.
Donegal love to get Daire Ó Baoill coming on to the ball on the right of the arc. That leaves him with the opportunity of curling it in with his right foot. Ciarán Thompson does the same with his left. Michael Murphy often makes himself available at the top of the arc and lays it off, sucking players towards him and making space.
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Stefan Campbell probably thought he had kicked a late two-pointer the last day for Armagh but his foot was just inside the line so it only counted for one. But the chance came about because Armagh had seven players between the small arc and the Tyrone goal, sucking all the defenders in, again to make the space.
It stands to reason that if seven of your 11 players are in around the goal, the other four have space out around the arc. The worst they’ll have is a one-on-one matchup.
That kick-out mark and the leeway around the solo-and-go after it has huge potential now
However, if you look back at Mayo when Ruane was taking his shot, they had just two players inside the 20-metre line and none inside the 13. It meant Galway were able to set up a wall of bodies around the arc, leaving Ruane out on the right trying to kick a hero score to level it.
I don’t think Armagh and Donegal will make that sort of mistake. They’ll be more systematic about it. They’ll have plans in place for that scenario, something they can rely on in the heat of battle. That’s what will separate the top teams from the next tier, ultimately.
There’s no doubt the rules have changed the game completely. The solo-and-go is a huge addition, especially after a midfield mark. Think of Cillian McDaid’s point in the first half for Galway on Sunday. Cien Darcy made a brilliant catch in midfield from a Mayo kick-out and took off running.
Funnily enough, I’m not so sure his manager would have been delighted in the moment. Galway had just kicked a wide from a free and could have done with a bit of settling. But the Mayo players around Darcy backed off with their hands in the air. He basically had a Garda escort up the pitch. He took full advantage and put McDaid away for an easy point.
There’s no way in the world that score would have happened last year. Darcy would have come down with his mark and his instinct would have been to slow down and reset, probably even kick the ball backwards so Galway could build again.
Mayo would have surrounded him and made sure he didn’t get so much as a look at what was in front of him. That’s not the game any more.
So when you look at Armagh and Donegal, you have the two best kick-outs in the game between Shaun Patton and Ethan Rafferty. That kick-out mark and the leeway around the solo-and-go after it has huge potential now.
If I know anything from facing Ulster teams, it’s that they put as much thought into nullifying the opponent’s advantage as they do into accentuating their own.
That’s the beauty of the new rules. Teams are finding the balance between using them and abusing them and it’s all happening in real time with serious consequences. Which is exactly what championship football should be.
