Aidan O’Shea of Connacht and Ray Connellan of Leinster contest the throw in by referee Martin McNally to start the Allianz GAA Football Interprovincial Championship Semi-Final match between Munster and Ulster at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.
Allianz interprovincial football series semi-final
CONNACHT 4-21 LEINSTER 1-11
By Paul Keane at Croke Park
If this is the future of Gaelic football then bring it on.
That may very well be the cry from western counties after this one-sided interprovincial encounter went their way by a whopping 22-point margin.
Facing down Leinster in an interprovincial semi-final - the competition is being used as a vehicle to test out the Football Review Committee's new rules enhancements - Padraic Joyce's Connacht thrived.
Mayo's Aidan O'Shea, the Man of the Match, particularly enjoyed himself, registering 1-3 overall while there were four-point goals also from Leitrim's Barry McNulty, London's Liam Gallagher and Roscommon attacker Ciarain Murtagh.
Connacht dominated from start to finish and, as a result, will face the winners of this evening's second semi-final between Munster and Ulster in tomorrow evening's final.
In truth, those who turned out at GAA HQ, and those viewing the action on TV at home, were more interested in how the FRC's new core enhancements and various tweaks and trials would work out.
In the end, we didn't get an Advanced Mark - a ball caught inside the 20m line following a kick from beyond the 45m line - but we were still given lots to mull over.
From the new 3/3 rule, to the solo-and-go, to four-point goals and two-point scores beyond the new 40m arc, we got a look at them all and, even in a game clearly dominated by one team, there was enough to suggest that the rules can add fluency and drama to Gaelic football.
Several of the FRC's seven core enhancements got an airing in an opening half that was dominated almost entirely by Connacht.
Managed by Galway boss Joyce, they led 1-18 to 0-4 at that stage having availed of one four-point goal and four two-point scores that were kicked outside the new 40m arc.
O'Shea went up for the throw-in for Connacht, in opposition to Leinster's Ray Connellan - the one-v-one throw-in is the first of the seven core enhancements devised by the FRC.
O'Shea reverted then to a more accustomed attacking role and wasted no time in becoming the first player to register a four-point goal.
He was on the mark after just three minutes, capitalising on a ball across from the right from Matthew Tierney, as well as the acres of space left around him.
Tierney was the first player to try for a two-point score from outside the arc but, along with Daire Cregg after him, was off target.
Jack Carney eventually kicked the first score from beyond 40 metres in the 11th minute as Connacht enjoyed a near patent on the possession.
Diarmuid Murtagh and O'Shea followed his lead and in O'Shea's case the big Breaffy man's haul added up to 1-3, or seven points, by half-time. Under the traditional scoring format, he would have scored 1-2, totalling five points.
As a result of Mayo's dominance, Stephen Cluxton had plenty of kick-out practice, with mixed results in terms of finding a green shirt beyond the 40m arc.
The new 3/3 rule demanded that both teams keep at least three outfield players in their own half at all times. They had the option, of course, of keeping more up front if they wished but for the most part both sides went with just three.
The countdown clock and hooter system led to a couple of interesting scenarios. Teams are allowed to finish out the play after the hooter sounds and this led to O'Shea kicking a buzzer beater at the end of the first quarter and, at the end of the third quarter, Connacht goalkeeper Conor Carroll was given the time to kick a long free after the hooted had sounded.
Both sides unloaded their benches and all of Leinster's third quarter scores came from subs; Louth's Ciaran Byrne and Dublin's Paddy Small contributing 0-5 between them, including a Byrne two-pointer.
Players seemed eager to kick two-pointers, often to their detriment with several wides registered when it may have been more prudent to work the ball closer to goal.
Even with four points for a goal, it never looked like Leinster would reel in the deficit despite former AFL player Byrne striking their only major in the 52nd minute.
By that stage, McNulty, Ciarain Murtagh and Gallagher had all grabbed goals for Connacht who, like Leinster, made sure that all of their subs got some game time by full-time.
* Scoring key (Goals - 2pt scores - 1 pt scores)
Connacht scorers: Aidan O'Shea 1-3 (1-1-1), Barry McNulty 1-1 (1-0-1f), Liam Gallagher 1-0, Ciarain Murtagh 1-0, Diarmuid Murtagh 0-4 (0-1-1), Fergal Boland 0-3 (0-1-1), Daire Cregg 0-2 (0-2f), Jack Carney 0-2 (0-1-0), Connor Gleeson 0-2 (0-0-1f), Conor Cox 0-2 (1f), Donie Smith 0-1 (1f), Cian Lally 0-1.
Leinster scorers: Ciaran Byrne 1-4 (1-1-2), Kevin Quinn 0-2 (0-1-0), Paddy Small 0-2, Ciaran Kilkenny 0-1, Kevin Feely 0-1, Eoin Porter 0-1.
CONNACHT: Connor Gleeson; Johnny McGrath, Brian Stack, Sean Mulkerrin; Cillian McDaid, John Daly, Eoghan McLaughlin; Jack Carney, John Maher; Matthew Tierney, Bob Tuohy, Enda Smith; Diarmuid Murtagh, Aidan O'Shea, Daire Cregg. Subs used: Fergal Boland, Johnny Heaney, Donie Smith, Ruaidhri Fallon, Barry McNulty, Conor Cox, Conor Carroll, Ciarain Murtagh, Mark Diffley, Diarmuid Duffy, Cian Lally, Ultan Harney, Liam Gallagher, Conor Carroll, Shane Cunnane, Pat Spillane.
LEINSTER: Stephen Cluxton; Craig Lennon, Michael Bambrick, Eoin Murchan; John Small, Ronan Wallace, James McCarthy; Ray Connellan, Dean Healy; Ciaran Downey, Ciaran Kilkenny, Brian Howard; Mark Barry, Daniel Flynn, Kevin Quinn.
Subs used: Donal Keogan, Paddy Small, Ciaran Byrne, Paul Kingston, Evan O'Carroll, Killian Roche, Kevin Feely, Darren Gallagher, Ronan Jones, Peter Cunningham, Eoin Porter, Sean Bugler, Ross Dunphy, Ryan Houlihan.
Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan).
