TIED UP…Armagh were not allowed the play

MY comrade Joe Brolly found himself in hot water again this week in the aftermath of his scathing criticism of Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney.

Let me begin by saying that Joe went a little over the top in his assessment of Geezer but at the same time I can see where his frustration came from.

As I sat watching the Armagh and Cavan game I found myself as a neutral shouting at the TV in disgust at what was unfolding before my eyes. I couldn’t fathom how a county team that have been preparing for this game for so long could exit the Ulster Championship with a whimper.

Naturally your first instinct is to question the management as it is they that are entrusted to prepare these lads for battle so, therefore, when it doesn’t work they are the first port of call.

I am not in any way sticking up for Joe Brolly, but I feel his comments were based on his frustration with what he was watching. I don’t believe that he has a personal vendetta against Kieran or Armagh, it’s more that he has difficulty in believing that this is the best Armagh have to offer.

I myself questioned Kieran at the final whistle but as the evening wore on I realised that the problem ran much deeper. In a way I feel Kieran’s hands are tied as he feel that in order for Armagh to compete they must play a certain brand of football, the problem with that is that his particular brand is neither exciting to play or watch so as a result he has lost a number of players.

After the game I read Jamie Clarke’s interview where he more or less said that he understood that Armagh had to play a certain way but if they played in a way where he felt he could express himself then he would probably be involved.

This for me this is the major issue, since yours truly and his band of merry team mates dragged the game into the gutter with that forgettable game against the Dubs in 2011, our game has rapidly declined as a spectacle.

Genuine ball players like Jamie Clarke are being hounded from our game and replaced with robots that are ten a penny but can fulfill a certain role within a team.

Managers feel pressurised to play muck football because they see it as the best chance of success. This week Down manager Eamonn Burns is quoted as saying that if they don’t play defensive football then the teams that play 13 or 14 behind the ball will hang them out to dry.

He said that he had to leave one of his best forwards and score getter Donal O’Hare out of the team while he practised this defensive system. No prizes for guessing how Down were going to set up this week then.

Where does it end or can it get any worse? Rants against managers like Kieran will become more common until this trend stops. I mean what is worse, losing to Cavan by eight points playing horrible football and half your team not wanting to be part of it or losing but having a real go at the same time with your full compliment of players?

It’s time managers began to play the game the way they want to as apposed to how they feel they have to.

Nowadays every club and county player in the land sees himself as a master tactician regurgitating phrases and systems picked up along the way, we are spending too much time thinking about the game that we are actually forgetting how to play it.

Perhaps what we need is a new breed of managers, young energetic risk takers that want to see the game played properly.

The best teams have structure to their play not systems, systems allow players to hide behind the system whereas structure allows the freedom for good players to express themselves and there lies the difference. More structure, less systems please.
comment@gaeliclife.com