Tomás Ó Sé doesn’t think the restricted handpass rule which was not adopted by the GAA's Central Council at the weekend would have been the cure to all of Gaelic football’s ills. What he does believe: it wasn't even given a chance to relieve some of the pain.
"The likes of Kerry didn’t play a match under it," Ó Sé said at the launch of the Gourmet Food Parlour HEC Ladies Football Championships.
There was a lot of counties that didn’t play a match under it. The managers and players, you saw the way they’re playing for the last few years and they’re saying, ‘it’s not coming into championship, it’s just a gimmick, we’re not doing it’.
I think had they given the handpass [rule] six or seven matches, they’d have to be thinking outside the box with it.
Central Council delegates went up, I’d love to know how many county managers whispered into the ear, this is the way it has to go. Or to the county chairman and back the other way. But I’m not giving out and I’m not harping on, ‘oh it would have changed that’, but I think it deserved a chance. I think a lot of thought went into it.
I’m not going to be giving out to managers, they have to fight for what they think is right as well. But I think even the numbers already, and this was everybody fighting it, the numbers were beginning to change.
Look, I’m not saying it would have worked, you had the likes of Joe Brolly in the papers, other pundits, they had a voice. Managers had a voice. We were listening to it on the radio. There’s nothing wrong with the arguments they were giving. Absolutely nothing.
There was no voice coming from the other side.
While he’s not sure how effective the three other experimental rules will be in producing a better spectacle, Ó Sé is enthusiastic about the offensive mark.
“I was at a colleges game the last night, UCC were playing Athlone. Jack Kennedy in midfield for UCC, plays wing forward, midfield for Tipperary. What a long-range kicker. It was fantastic to watch. It reminded me of Darragh [Ó Sé] in his pomp. I was saying it to somebody if we had a mark when Darragh was playing...
“And the defensive mark is there. Do you know, the tight corner-back coming out and getting possession, it will have the effect of lifting a team.”
GFP Ambassador and former Kerry footballer Tomás Ó Sé in attendance at the launch of the Gourmet Food Parlour HEC Ladies Football Championships at Gourmet Food Parlour’s Northwood, Santry outlet. Gourmet Food Parlour are the official sponsors of the HEC Ladies Football third-level Championships. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
