TYRONE goalkeeper Niall Morgan can’t wait for next season to start after the GAA pushed the reset button on Gaelic Football with the introduction of what they hope will be game-changing set of new rules.
Alongside headline-grabbers like the 40-metre arc and the 3-v-3 rule that means teams have to play with three forwards in the opposition half at all times are rules governing kickouts and restricting the involvement of goalkeepers outfield.
Morgan sees the new laws as a positive step and, as he looks forward to his 13th inter-county season, this year’s Allstar-winning goalkeeper says he’s excited to be on the cusp of a fresh start for the game.
“It’s nice to be getting to this stage and looking forward to something new,” he said.
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“I’m not going back to the same thing again because I have to change my game again. When I first started you stayed on your line, that was it and we progressed to joining the attack every time. Now we’re reining it back a bit and there has to more thought put into it so I’m looking forward to it all.”
Morgan admitted that when the new Football Review Committee rules were first suggested he was concerned that goalkeepers would be “chained to the posts”. However, the new rules mean that the netminder can still attack but can’t receive the ball from a team-mate inside their own half (apart from in the large square).
“It was important that they stopped the back pass within a team’s half because that was the biggest drawback - there was no point in a team pressing up because they were just being wiped out,” said Morgan, co-chair of the Gaelic Players Association’s National Executive Committee.
“Now if me or Rory (Beggan), or Odhran (Lynch), or Ethan (Rafferty) or whoever is going to be playing in goals for the different teams is going to join the play we’re taking a massive risk because if it breaks down you’re in real trouble.
“Yes you have three men covering you but you also have three forwards up there. So you’re taking a huge risk and we’re going to have to be fit enough to get back to the goals sharply.
“I think it’ll be more set plays when the ‘keepers come out and join the play, I don’t think it’ll be as often as it is now. It got to the stage last year where every time we got the ball I was going out and I don’t think that’s going to happen as much now – it’ll be a case of noticing that the other team has dropped off and you’re going to need the 12th man (the goalkeeper) to break that down and open up the scoring opportunity.
“It’s up to coaches to find out what works and what doesn’t. It’s the ultimate reset because coaches are going to have to go back to the start – there’ll be no copying last year’s template and the cream will rise to the top in terms of coaches.”
His new Tyrone manager Malachy O’Rourke was part of the FRC committee so he should be well versed on the nuances of the 49 new rules that were voted in at last Saturday’s Special Congress.
“Everybody is going to be starting from the same point but you’d think that the FRC has discussed the positives and negatives of each of the rules and Malachy will have that track on it,” said Morgan.
“It’s the same with Michael Murphy (also an FRC member) returning to Donegal, he’s going to have that knowledge.
“Everybody knew there had to be some sort of change and the fact that it’s still open to a review as we go along was important. If they (the FRC) had been saying ‘this is it’ there might have been more of a debate around it.
“There’s wasn’t really any debate about the rules at all, they all went through with a massive majority.
“It’s exciting, there are exciting times ahead and I think everyone will be happy to have the reset and go again.”
