JUST WHAT THE DOC ORDERED
PRACTICE makes perfect even when it is totally unintentional. Jason Doherty entered the record books when he became the first player in Gaelic football history to take a penalty in a shootout as his Mayo team scraped past Leitrim in Sunday’s Connacht FBD League quarter-final at Carrick-on-Shannon. That feat might just earn him a place on the GAA’s pub quiz circuit in the years to come, but the fact that he also scored his kick — Mayo won the shootout 4-1 — had less to do with luck and more to do with leg work. It brings preparation to a whole new level when a footballer takes the time out to practise penalties 24 hours before a preseason game, but that is just what Doherty did, although he was completely unaware that the Connacht Council had introduced the soccer-style concept to produce a decisive result at the end of drawn matches for this season’s competition. ‘To be honest when the final whistle went I wasn’t sure what to expect — was it going to be 45s, extra-time or penalties. ‘I actually took a few on Saturday when I was out kicking a few frees. I’d say I took 10 to 15 penalties and thankfully that made it a bit easier walking up to the spot knowing I had kicked a few,’ revealed Doherty afterwards. The Connacht experiment is likely to point the way forward for the GAA nationally. A Central Councilbacked motion is set to come before Congress seeking the introduction of penalty shootouts, in place of a free-taking competition, to decide knockout games where replays are not legislated for, including All-Ireland qualifier matches. The latter contest was utilised for the first time in the Longford-
Meath O’Byrne Cup match last year, but the free-taking concept has proved to be such an underwhelming spectacle in both codes — it was also used to decide the result of last season’s Allianz HL quarter-final between Clare and Limerick — that the GAA look set to introduce penalty shootouts as the ultimate tie-breaker. If that is to be the case, it is likely to prove more exciting for spectators and players. ‘It was exciting,’ revealed Doherty ‘You would obviously be more used to watching it taking place at the World Cup and in other major soccer games but it was cool to be involved in one and obviously it makes it nicer to come out the right end of it. ‘I think for the fans, penalties probably bring a bit more excitement, but it doesn’t make much odds to us as players whether it’s penalties or frees. ‘It’s about picking the players, then to work on it. We had more than five willing to take them so we had to bring it down, which is a good sign.’ Less encouraging from a Mayo perspective is the fact that they had to resort to penalties to scrape through to a semi-final meeting with Galway this weekend, especially after holding a sevenpoint lead at half-time against Division 4 opposition. Even when Leitrim were reduced to 14 men as a result of Dean McGovern’s sin-binning — the same player was caught in the eye of a storm after getting involved in the move which tied the game while he was leaving the field after being red-carded at the end — they outscored Mayo by 2-1 to 0-1 in that 10-minute period. ‘We were disappointed with some of the scores we conceded, there was very little pressure on a lot of their kickers coming through the middle. But it was a great test to kick off the year.’