A MANAGER getting cross at how one of his players scored points may seem strange but new GAA rules can be mind-bending.
New Derry senior football boss Rory Gallagher admitted he had mixed feelings after full-forward Ryan Bell twice caught long kick-passes – and both times played on to kick scores rather than taking an ‘advanced mark’.
"You would be annoyed at Ryan in that situation in that he made hard work of the two points when he should have just put his hand up and tapped the ball over the bar no problem.”
However, Gallagher had sympathy for the Ballinderry man and indeed all attackers who would have to go against their natural instincts and years of training in order to take advantage of the new rule:
“It is very difficult though to change something you have done all your life. It is challenging and something we are going to have to get better at…
"It is very difficult, it is not natural to put your hand up, you think you should play on. It is a difficult one, difficult for referees, difficult for defenders as well. Ryan ended up putting the two over the bar but he made harder work of it than maybe he should have.
"It is instinctive to play on. That's the thing I wouldn’t enjoy from these new rules, it is taking away from what you have naturally done all your life.”
With his Shamrocks clubmate Enda Muldoon part of the Derry management team, ‘Sucky’ Bell will certainly benefit from expert coaching on the arts of both long kick-passing and high fielding, with Gallagher also a forward of note in his day.
The former Donegal and Fermanagh manager feels that there is much more to come from Bell, even after scoring those two points plus another from play and converting a free in his tally of 0-4 against Monaghan:
"Ryan has got himself in good nick, worked really hard in pre-season. We have a big expectancy of him, we’d expect him to win those balls – probably expect a bit more from him as well.”
Bell’s county colleague Danny Tallon definitely feels the former can reap rewards from the advanced mark: "It's something you have to keep in your mind. If there is a ball played in, especially for players like big `Sucky’, who are very good target men, it's a free kick so that will be a big change - but it is a good one for forwards.”
Monaghan manager Seamus McEnaney had a traditionalist take on the debate, saying: “It’s very early on in the trial part of it. The mark’s all right, but sometimes the next option is maybe better - and you always want to take the better option if you can.”
While Monaghan travel to take on Donegal in Ballybofey on Sunday, Derry must wait until the following Wednesday before the host their north-western neighbours in the third ‘Section A’ game, at Celtic Park.
Gallagher is content with that break, though, commenting positively about the McKenna Cup reverting to its traditional `counties only’ format, meaning fewer group games:
"I'd be happy enough. I think the 8th of January is time enough to be playing so we are glad to let the boys get over the New Year and then when we get into January, we will really get going.”
Referring to their opener in Inniskeen on Sunday past, he said it was “always a difficult day to get back out. We had a light session yesterday [Saturday] and you definitely needed it, the boys were tired. A lot of them were at a wedding on the 27th and it is a strange time of the year to be playing football.”
The Belleek man expects to have more options available to take on Donegal, especially going forward:
“We'd be very excited about the quality of boys we have to run the ball and to let it in. Jack Doherty is only coming back in there, Niall Loughlin wasn't right to play, obviously you have Shane McGuigan to come back in there. We have good players up front, so it is a matter of working with what we have now and trying to work the others in.
"I'd be hoping Niall Loughlin, Jack Doherty got back in there [as a substitute], hopefully Cathal Mulholland won't be too far away, Conor McAtamney came on for a while there at the end, so we'd be hopeful we will have a few more players available”.
