As befits his blunt-speaking persona, Galway manager Pádraic Joyce – who is in charge of the Connacht team for this weekend’s interprovincial trialling of the new rules proposed by Jim Gavin’s Football Review Committee – first expresses existential doubts before relenting.
“Is there much wrong in the GAA in my opinion? Probably not a whole pile, but it definitely needs something to put a bit of spark into it. We’ve probably had one of the most open championships, I’d say, in years.
“And all of a sudden, this is wrong and everything’s wrong. But look, there’s definitely something to change. There’s too many teams going out playing football not to lose, instead of going out trying to win games.
“So, if we can get a few rules out of this: I think the ball back to the keeper is a big one; I think the ‘tap and go’ is a huge one. That’ll bring a lot of speed into the game. And the cynical fouling that takes place without it being a black card to allow the game to move forward 40, 50 metres is a big one.”
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The weekend’s matches have been built up as everything from an accessible platform for a television audience to a lifeline for the old Railway Cup if it works out.
It is also a useful run-out for elite players and intercounty managements on an excellent pitch, especially in the absence of the preseason tournaments, which have been discontinued – to the unhappiness of Joyce and the other two intercounty managers present at Monday’s launch of the weekend’s activities, Kieran Donnelly of Fermanagh and Waterford’s Paul Shankey.
Joyce is the most strident on the subject, complaining that managers weren’t even consulted before an important part of their season’s preparations was abolished.
Inevitably, the excruciating disappointment of Galway’s All-Ireland final defeat by Armagh bobs to the surface. He doesn’t varnish his reaction with any talk of ‘learnings’.
“It’s a sickener; there’s no doubt about that. I still have nightmares about it. I said to the boys afterwards, we’ll regret it probably until we take our last breath in this world.”
As one of the best kickers of the past couple of decades, he naturally aligns with the FRC emphasis on increased use of the foot and acknowledges that managers are chief suspects in the decline of more traditional virtues.
“Sometimes you have to adapt to what’s in front of you. We got hugely criticised here for the way we played in the final in our own quarters in Galway, but there was no point kicking the ball into six Armagh fellas standing in front of Damian Comer.”
He protests with justification that the new mandatory requirement to keep three players up is something he has been practising with his full-forward line of Rob Finnerty, Comer and Shane Walsh, all summer.
Joyce has adopted an ecumenical approach with the other Connacht counties, involving them all in the project, which sees them face Leinster in Friday’s semi-final. There will also be players present from all of the counties – even London and New York – when the panels are released later this week.
“Obviously get up here for a weekend in Dublin and get two games in Croke Park again – they’ll jump at the chance,” says Joyce.
He has noticed the significantly raised tempo in matches and is wary of potential injury.
“That needs managing because you have to watch hamstring injuries at this time of year but the high-speed running module part of the GPS is really high in the games that have been played.
“That’s coming from club players and some intercounty development squads whereas at the weekend here we’re going to have the elite players in the country playing this, so it’s going to be off the charts.”
He restates his opinion that the new, split season is too short, too congested and thinks that a potential fixtures load of between 16 and 19 matches in six months “is too much”.
One of the changes he believes will prompt fundamental rethinking is the new role of the goalkeeper.
“For me, a goalkeeper’s job is to kick the ball out and stop goals going in. As you know from Galway, the last couple of years, Conor [Gleeson] doesn’t go too far for us – he doesn’t be allowed go too far. But this game, we have Conor Carroll involved from Roscommon as well, and he’s a very good ballplayer. I had him in Galway with the [under-] 20′s, years ago.
“So, there are two different contrasting keepers. We’ll play both and see which one works out best. But again, keepers have licence now to get forward and become probably the 12th and 11th defender on the far side, so that could be a big impact on the game.”
There will be changes and additions to Galway’s management and back room team for next season. The departure of coach Cian O’Neill to Kerry has created one vacancy but there will be other changes, although Joyce isn’t in a position to announce them yet.
“Yeah, we’re always looking to bolster the back room team. Cian has moved on so we need to get someone. We have a guy for that. It’ll be out in due course. We’re probably looking for another bit of experience, whether it’s going with the management or the back room team.
“No, I can’t reveal it until another month.”
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