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Down’s Odhran Murdock was the Ulster hero in the Inter-pros football final, netting both his efforts in the penalty shoot-out for a 2-1 win over Connacht after earlier scoring a four-point goal during the game.
Armagh captain Aidan Forker afterwards voiced some concerns about both the new scoring system - and how those scores are displayed.
Although the four matches at Croke Park over the weekend were fairly open and high-scoring, the Maghery man suggested that teams could become defensive in an attempt to prevent four-point goals.
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“I feel like the scores may be a bit heavily weighted to the goals,” Forker told RTE Sport. “I think if you concede a point, it doesn’t feel that heavy on you. If you concede a goal, the four points feels quite heavy.
“For me a 3, 2, 1 [three for a goal, two for scores from outside the 40m arc, one for a point], would be nice.
“Four points for a goal, it can knock you. I think teams will set up to not concede goals, because if you concede two or three goals in a game, you’re going to struggle to win the game.
“Managers will be quite wary of conceding goals, I think you’ll be coached very much to try and negate goal chances.”
Forker admitted that Ulster were in some confusion late in the game after Murdock’s goal gave them a two-point lead, contributing to Galway’s Johnny Heaney being able to level matters with another two-point score.
“On that last play, we probably played it wrong in terms of dropping men back and inviting that two-pointer. We weren’t 100 per cent sure on the total, because it is so fast and the scores are going over quite quickly.
“It probably needs to have totals on the scoreboard just for players because it is so dynamic and so quick.
“Rian [O’Neill] was actually shouting at me saying, ‘Aidan, what’s the score?’ He was looking for a bit of feedback and not towards the end of the game.”
The Crossmaglen man, who was named ‘Man of the Match’ for his tally of 0-8 (including two two-point scores from beyond the experimental 40m arc), confirmed that with a laugh:
“Just as far as the scoring, my maths wouldn’t be great, so I was struggling to figure out what the score was! I was asking Aidan Forker the whole second half what the score was.”
That apart, O’Neill was in his element, including supplying Murdock for his fisted goal, saying of the experimental game: “”Of course we enjoyed it, there was a lot of space out there so the ball was being kicked. From [Friday] night we worked it a bit more up the field and tried to kick it in from there, instead of trying to launch ball from 70, 80 yards, as much as it’s tempting to do that.”
As for whether the new rules will alter his attacking approach, O’Neill was unsure, commenting:
“First thing I’d always look for is to try to get the ball in, the ball’s gonna move faster than any man. Even more so now with the three up, there’s boys moving inside and there’s that bit more space for them. The only thing is they can be isolated up there and stuck on their own. It’s about getting men off the shoulder, running with them, getting numbers up the field. Of course it lends itself to kicking in more often.”
RTE pundit and former Dublin midfielder Ciaran Whelan raised a point – or two? - about another aspect of the new scoring system, saying: “Two points for a 45 is questionable, because you could be in a position where a defender puts in a great block, or a situation we had where there was a one-point shot and [Ulster goalkeeper] Niall Morgan flicked it out for a 45 and then [Connacht’s] Conor Gleeson is getting the chance for a two-pointer. I can’t understand that logic. I think a 45 should be one point.
“We’ve seen the benefit [of two points from play]… that added to the excitement to be able to pick off those scores from outside the arc. That space was there ultimately because you only had 11 defenders back. You still can sit somebody in front…We’ll see defensive structures begin to develop.”
