DONEGAL MANAGER RORY GALLAGHER has urged the GAA to ‘leave well enough alone’ the playing rules of the game.
Gallagher isn’t a fan of the ‘mark’, which was passed into the Gaelic football rulebook on Saturday.
Under the new rule – which was previously trialled during the League in 2010 – a player who catches the ball cleanly from a kick-out that has travelled at least 45 metres can take a free or can play on.
Picture caption: Neil Gallagher of Donegal rises with Mayo’s Tom Parsons at Sean MacCumhaill Park on Sunday. Picture by Geraldine Diver.
The ‘mark’ was passed with the support of 68 per cent of delegates at GAA Congress at the Mount Wolseley Hotel in Tullow, County Carlow on Saturday, narrowly gaining two thirds majority.
The motion was proposed by the Standing Committee on Playing Rules led by Jarlath Burns, the former Armagh midfielder.
“I think it was clear a lot of people wanted to push it through over the last number of Congresses,” Gallagher said.
“I think it was forced through.”
When the argument that the rule rewards one of Gaelic football’s key skills was put to Gallagher, the manager was defiant.
He said: “At the same time Rob Hennelly (the Mayo goalkeeper) put on an exhibition on picking people out, that’s a tremendous skill. That’s the way the game has gone.
“I saw Dublin and Monaghan last night and thought it was a classic game with loads of skills and Conor McManus kicking wonderful points. There was loads of wholehearted defending and I think today was a wonderful game.
“They should leave well enough alone.”
Odhrán Mac Niallais possesses the talents to profit from the new rule, but the Gaoth Dobhair isn’t fully sold on the idea.
“It’s good in a way and it’s bad in a way,” Mac Niallais said.
“Teams might stop with the long kick outs and might go short all the time. It won’t be easy.
“It’s good too for the traditional midfielders, the likes of Neil Gallagher, who can catch high.
“The way the game has gone now you’re surrounded and can get done for overcarrying. It’s not easy and it’ll help players like Neil.
“At the same time it might slow the game down. I don’t know what to make of it. The jury is still out.”
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