Look at all those disgusting handpasses…
Micheal Burns, Daithi Casey, Tony Brosnan. New day, fresh opponent, same wonderful antics from Dr Crokes.
Crokes wrapped up their 2018 endeavours with another walloping victory and a shed-load of points and goals. The Kerry and Munster champions, who are still to take on Longford’s Mullinalaghta in the SFC semis, were in action on Saturday, December 22 in the East Kerry final.
They took on Kilcumminn and, as they have done so often this year, bolted as soon as the gate was lifted.
Crokes were 0-11 to 0-2 up after 28 minutes when Kieran O’Leary made a double impact that all but settled the tie. Twice in three minutes the Crokes forward rifled home goals and had the Crokes fans out of their seats.
The goal that ultimately broke Kilcummin’s resistance was a joy to watch, as Crokes fielded a clearing kick and raided up-field with swift, ruthless intent.
One, two, three, four hand-passes in the space of six seconds with the final one going to O’Leary (No.14) as he halted his charge forward to lose his marker. The forward sized up his options in an instant before cracking a side-footed shot into the top corner from 20 metres out.
Some goal by Kieran O'Leary in East Kerry Final.#TheBoysAreBack pic.twitter.com/0y4oub7OV6
— Dr. Crokes GAA (@DrCrokesGAA) December 22, 2018
The goal, like so many Crokes scores on Saturday, was a joy to behold. Slick, speedy and accurate passing, by hand and by foot, and players who know how to make chances count.
The only problem here is a big one. The GAA don’t want teams using handpasses any more than three consecutive times before the ball has to be kicked.
The rule change will come into effect for the 2019 Allianz Football Leagues and could yet sweep the club game in 2019 if it gets the full green light. This drive to cut down on hand-passes had our very own Conán Doherty perplexed, and vexed, when he wrote about its proposed introduction earlier this year:
‘Your problem with Gaelic football is not the hand pass. Your problem is with teams playing 14 men behind the ball.
‘Your other problem is the keep-ball tactics, when players run the clock down by slowly giving the size five a tour of the most unexciting, risk-averse areas of the pitch. But the hand pass is just a symptom of the actual illnesses. Just because you get a pain behind the eyes when you have a migraine, it doesn’t mean you have to gouge them out.’
If the hand-pass rule sweeps the nation in the coming months, one of the best goals of 2018 would not be allowed in 2019. It doesn’t seem quite right.
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