Joe Brolly’s controversial take on two-point rule will anger David Clifford fans

The new GAA rules have been welcomed by many fans

The new two-point arc is seen by some as one of the greatest revolutions in football’s recent history.

It has produced record-breaking high-scoring matches, and has had an influence on reducing defensive-minded teams.

And though Brolly says the new rules have “revived the corpse of Gaelic football,” in the same Irish Independent column, he suggests two-pointers are completely skewing the fairness of matches in favour of teams who are “fortunate” enough to have two-point specialists.

He said on Sunday: “Two-pointers are skewing the fairness of the contest.

“If a team is fortunate enough to have a two-point specialist, they now have an enormous advantage.

“It is clear from this first season of the new rules that it is imperative to find and develop two-point specialists, like the kickers in American football. Teams at all levels that have such a kicker will have a huge advantage. An advantage that they do not have to earn in the traditional way — by playing better football than the opposition.

“A two-point specialist, regardless of his general ability, is now absolutely worth it. It no longer matters if you are being outplayed. And if you have a gale-force wind blowing, then a two-point specialist can win the game in a single half.”

Do recent examples back up Brolly's point?

Backing up Brolly’s thinking was a recent Tyrone senior league match, in which Dungannon beat Trillick 0-25 to 0-17, despite Trillick kicking the ball over the bar more times.

Brolly also referenced the All-Ireland final, in which Kerry beat Donegal, as David Clifford dominated with two-pointers for a comfortable win despite what Brolly saw as a closer contest in reality.

Brolly suggested the two-point frees in particular were unjustifiably unfair.

“Two-point frees are unjustifiable. Worse again is the option to move the free back out to the 40-metre arc when the referee has advanced the ball 50 metres. Again, this is a thoroughly unworked-for advantage. 

“The normal principles of any sporting contest are fairness, that the scoring system broadly reflects the balance of the play, and that the scores are created/deserved. This does not apply to two-point frees, where a specialist kicker can and often does win the game on those alone.

In the All-Ireland final this year, Kerry had two two-point specialists. Donegal had none. In spite of the fact that Donegal kicked the ball over the bar the same number of times as Kerry, like Trillick on Friday night, they lost heavily. 

“What would ordinarily have been a titanic contest was instead a terrible anti-climax because of those two-point specialists.”