Rule changes can restore electricity to football

If Thursday was the Night of the Big Wind, then Saturday very nearly became the Night of the Big Win for Mayo in Croke Park.

The fallout from Storm Eowyn ensured that I didn’t see this game live. A smashed car windscreen, power outages and a crashed TG4 stream meant that Michael D. McAndrew and Robbie Hennelly on Midwest were my main source of info as Mayo opened their 2025 season. They painted a picture of a lively, free-flowing encounter, and everyone I’ve spoken to – whether they attended in person or had a working TV stream – was quietly impressed and optimistic about Mayo’s performance.

Last year’s NFL campaign was too samey and boring. There was no real risk taken with team selection and no bolters emerged. On Saturday night, strong performances from the likes of Davitt Neary, Sean Morahan and Conor Reid have given Mayo followers reason for hope and something fresh to look forward to as the campaign progresses.

Before the game it was impossible to predict how this one would go as only a mad man would predict what teams would take the field. I’d imagine there was little or no opposition analysis done prior to this one. How could there have been with no form book and all these debutants on both sides. The lack of worrying about what your opponent may bring probably contributed to an enjoyable, free-flowing spectacle as everyone just focused on number one.

That being said, perhaps there should have been special arrangements made for one of Dublin’s more seasoned players, Sean Bugler, who ran amok. Scoring seven points from play in senior inter-county football is some feat. To do it as a half-forward is astonishing. I cannot remember such a haul from a wing-forward at this level. I often think that if a wing-forward kicks four points from play they’ve had a stormer but seven is a phenomenal shift. And it was seven singles, not three twos and a one like it could be in new money. As noteworthy as that was from Bugler, some introspection will be required from Mayo players and management too as to how this happened. More cynical and street-smart outfits would shut him down after point three or four.

Robbie Hennelly on co-comms was mightily impressed with his successor Colm Reape’s ball skills going forward. Reape kicked a sweet point and his shimmy in the build-up to Conor Reid’s goal was to die for. Reid had a good opener to the 2025 league season, similar to his performance in Salthill 12 months ago when the 2024 season began. Let’s hope he can stay fit and get a proper run at it this time round.

Netminder Reape did very well going forward but I have to say that in the games I watched over the weekend I was a bit disappointed to see goalkeepers as influential as ever, even with the new rules in place. In the Galway-Armagh and Roscommon-Down matches the goalkeepers were rarely at home. It was obviously the same story in Omagh as Derry’s Paddy Tally bemoaned the fact that advancing goalkeepers who produce an overload and “the 12th man” are “killing the game”. Call me old school but goalies are there for restarts and to stop the ball going into the net, if they want to be so impactful in open play, let them play outfield.

Overall, it’s early days so I’m not going to make any grand proclamations about the rule enhancements. It was interesting to watch them in competitive action but we will need a few months to see how they pan out.

Just some early observations- the hooter is a good thing and adds excitement at the death. As a forward, the tap-and-go is exciting as you can make a dart for goal if fouled and the defender switches off.

Also with my forward hat on though, I hope that defenders don’t just tap-and-go every time they’re fouled. Sometimes a kick is a better option to get forward quickly. Galway defenders religiously used the tap-and-go instead of a few 20 or 30 metre free kicks to get their team up the field. This suited Armagh perfectly as the shorter game gave them more time to funnel their eleven bodies back.

The two-point score is a massive fillip in a tight game. There wasn’t a lot between Galway and Armagh on Saturday but a trio of two-pointers from Paul Conroy, Cillian O’Curraoin and Shane Walsh over a five-minute period in the second-half put the game to bed. Down kicked four with the wind in the first-half against Roscommon and even though the Rossies were doing well and quite dominant they found themselves in arrears. Teams who can kick two-pointers proficiently and regularly have a massive advantage and will be hard to stop.

There were frequent breaches of the 3 v 3 rule in Salthill and it was a weird sight. The game could have been in full flight and you’d hear a sudden random toot of the ref’s whistle before he would go over to consult with his linesman. The ball was then brought right in front of the offending team’s goal for a tap over. A bizarre occurrence and not a very organic-looking rule that will necessarily contribute to the flow of the game. Maybe we will get more used to it but every infraction was spotted by Conor Lane’s linesman rather than the man-in-the-middle himself. Refs will literally need eyes in the backs of their heads to be on top of this one. How will that work in club league games without neutral linesmen?

These teething issues aside though, there were many high scoring tallies posted by teams nationwide on atrocious pitches. One must think and hope that once these changes are fully embedded we will have a breathless, electric product on a dry sod in late spring and summer.

In awe of Conor’s courage 

While Mayo’s display was encouraging, Crossmolina’s performance at Croke Park on Sunday was nothing short of heroic. After all that has happened in the last few weeks, how they found the energy in their legs to keep going amazes me. All hope looked lost as Ballinderry went two up heading into stoppage time but Cross bravely kept driving on and found the gaps needed to eke out the win.

Never in a million years was it a penalty, but fate's hand decreed that this was how the occasion would pan out. That Conor Loftus was the one to kick the winning penalty with the last kick of the game seemed written in the stars. There haven’t been too many more poignant moments in sport.

He deserves enormous credit for volunteering to take the penalty and for maintaining his composure in an emotionally-charged moment. There was a three or four-minute gap between the awarding of the kick and the taking of it but Conor showed incredible nerve, focus and skill to despatch it so beautifully.

I hope it provides him some solace in these difficult times but I’m sure it will be a bittersweet moment for him. He can be immensely proud, however, to have won it for his teammates and club who have rallied around him so much in recent times.

Crossmolina Deel Rovers: All-Ireland champions once again and not a dry eye in the house. Heroes one and all.