Munster representive Paul Shankey during the Allianz GAA Football Inter-Provincial Series Briefing at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Waterford football team manager, Paul Shankey, is enthused by the impact the Football Review Committee’s proposed rule enhancements will have on Gaelic football.
The former Meath footballer is a member of the Munster management team for this weekend’s Allianz inter-provincial series when the FRC’s proposals will be road-tested, and liked what he saw when Munster held an in-house training game last weekend to get used to them.
“Great, great excitement, I look forward to it,” said Shankey of the rules being trialled in the interprovincial series.
“There is three of them I like personally. Starting from the back, I like the keeper kicking it beyond the 40. I think that will bring back the old traditionalist in everyone, the bit of a contest in the middle field and half backs winning breaking ball. I like that one.
“And then obviously then the structure of the three versus 3 and finally the advanced mark inside the 20 where the forward has can keep going and have a chance. Those three rules really complement each other, and they also then enhance the game I think considerably.
“They'd be my front runners, but all the rules are great and they're all, you know, trying to make, getting football a more exciting spectacle.
“Gaelic football is a great game. You know, there were lots of bad games in my time as well. There's lots of bad games in every period of time. It's just that it's gone very structured and has lost that kind of element of risk maybe, the element of teams going for it.
“Coaches and managers and players are playing what's in front of them. Trying to enhance their chances of being competitive. So I can't blame anyone for that, but it does need a couple of tweaks just to make it more exciting, bring back the inside forward.”
In attendance are, from left, Ulster manager Kieran Donnelly, Geoff Sparling, Chief Customer Officer Allianz Ireland, Munster representive Paul Shankey, Leinster manager Dessie Dolan, Mark Brennan, Head of Marketing Allianz Ireland and Connacht manager Padraic Joyce during the Allianz GAA Football Inter-Provincial Series Briefing at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Having seen how the proposed playing rule enhancements worked in Munster’s in-house game last weekend, Shankey doesn’t believe they’ll be too challenging for referees to implement.
“I don’t,” he says. “I think there is a lot of noise about it being complicated. Maybe at club level but I think players will embrace and referees seem to be embracing it. I think it’s quite straightforward. It depends on the number of rules that get through from Congress but I think they’re pretty simple.
“When Jim (Gavin) explains them in their seven points, they’re pretty straightforward and not that difficult to referee in my estimation.
“It’s keeper kicks out it beyond the 40, it’s a contest, it’s kicked in, it’s a (two-point) score outside the arc, there’s the advantage mark.
“A ball up between two people, the tap and solo. (Addressing) the cynical side of it and lads getting held up, that’s quite good as well. It’s just trying to bring it to more contests, being more fast, more aggressive.”
Waterford manager Paul Shankey, right, celebrates with Alan Dunwoody after their side's victory in the Munster GAA Football Senior Championship quarter-final match between Waterford and Tipperary at Fraher Field in Dungarvan, Waterford. Photo by Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile.
Shankey’s first season as Waterford football team manager was a positive one. Their Munster championship win over Tipperary was their first in the province since 2010 and their first over the Premier County since 1988.
“It’s a great county because every club is a dual club,” says Shankey of Waterford. “They’ll play football and hurling, every single one of them, so there are a lot of good footballers there. It’s just a case of them wanting to play hurling for Waterford and that’s great, we support all the codes there.
“You’re just trying to get that environment with football where lads are thinking, ‘There’s an opportunity here to push things on’. We struggled at the start of last year just getting the numbers out and towards the end we improved dramatically. We’re just trying to keep the core and add more to it.
“We had two wins, a win against Tipperary and a win against Longford in the Tailteann Cup and we missed out on the Tailteann Cup (knock-out) on scoring difference. We imploded in the second half against Kildare. But great excitement. There’s a guy, Mike Curry, who has played 100 championship matches, which is a phenomenal achievement for any county team. That was his first or second win, his first Munster win. It was obviously brilliant.”
Shankey believes Waterford as a GAA county could learn a lot from Offaly in terms of how to be competitive in both football as well as hurling.
“I kinda look at Offaly and see what they’re doing underage,” he says. “Every player plays both to a certain age and then they concentrate on whichever. If it’s hurling, it’s hurling, if it’s football, it’s football.
“Offaly is a great, traditional county and have been in hurling and football All-Irelands at under-age with small numbers so there are clearly good things to learn from them.
“But there is some great work going on at under-age (in Waterford). We have great facilities. Via the GPA, we get the same terms and conditions as everyone else.
“We had some lads in last year that got really strong and fit. We’re a very young group. There’s a lot of work going on from U14 to U18 at the moment.
“There’s an U20 management group gone in that will be there for the next three years. The minors last year won two games. There’s a bright future, we just need to keep at it.