After one weekend of National Football League action, former Kerry footballer Kieran Donaghy came to the defence of Gaelic football's new advanced mark rule on Thursday's OTB AM.
In the immediate aftermath of the weekend's action, the clipped footage of Donegal's Michael Murphy catching a lofted kick-pass uncontested before tapping it over the Mayo bar sparked consternation among those who would happily have the rule done away with.
On Monday's OTB AM, the former Meath captain Anthony Moyles, citing the example of Murphy's point, described the advanced mark as "absolutely shocking," laying out where he believed defenders were now at a significant disadvantage to their attacking counterparts.
Michael Murphy taking full advantage of the mark to put Donegal back ahead.
LIVE now on eir sport 1! #AllianzLeagues #MatchNightLive pic.twitter.com/BneP97x9ms— eir Sport (@eirSport) January 25, 2020
Noted for his willingness to give the advanced mark rule a chance at the very least, Kieran Donaghy was displeased with the criticism that greeted Michael Murphy's controversial mark and point.
"People gave out that he caught the ball into his chest and he landed and marked the ball," remarked Donaghy of the criticism that followed the tweeted clip of the Murphy point on Saturday evening, "but if you look at the clip from behind where is running out from the goal, he catches it about 35 or 40 yards out from goal."
"There was one guy marking him and three Mayo guys streaming back in on top of him.
"If he plays on in that instance, he probably wins the ball and goes off to the side where he has to hand-pass it back to his half-back who has come up the pitch and it starts being rotated across.
"I don't think he would have been able to catch the ball, turn and take on his man if he hadn't come out [to meet the pass]."
Michael Murphy of Donegal scoring a point during the Allianz Football League Division 1 Round 1 match between Donegal and Mayo. Photo by Oliver McVeigh/SportsfileAlthough the sight of Murphy nevertheless making a straight-forward catch and kick to give his side a quick point doesn't quite match up with Donaghy's vision of high, contested fielding, it was at least quick and the game moved along.
In the hands of such a supreme free-taker like Michael Murphy, Kieran Donaghy believes that the generally negative response failed to take into consideration the reality that such composure in a dead-ball scenario will not be to every player's liking.
"I wouldn't have liked that ball," admitted Donaghy. "It would be about a 6 out of 10 for me, where it is probably 9 out of 10 for Murphy.
"When we were down in Australia [with the International Rules series] I caught a couple of those big ones and they were simple kicks.
"For a fella who had never taken a free-kick before, though, I was standing there in front of 40,000 people looking at the posts, looking at the ball think what's my routine here?"
With teams likely to develop and adapt their treatment of the rule over time, Kieran Donaghy is confident that given the chance players will develop the necessary skills to make the advanced mark a more effective means of scoring for a number of players, and not just the specialists.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
