Pure magic of last weekend is proof blanket belongs in the bin
IT WAS an honour to commentate on Armagh v Roscommon in Portlaoise.
But in general, the good football being played at the moment has been drowned out by white noise.
A lot of that is down to the ludicrous number of people putting their opinion into the public forum, myself included.
Despite what many claim, there is only a dying kick left in the blanket defence.
Last weekend there were 147 points scored in the four games played.
It was spectacular, as good as I’ve seen in many years.
A lot of people don’t realise how difficult it is to score from 30 to 50 yards on the run, under pressure and from all sorts of angles.
It’s still the greatest art in the game and the hardest thing to achieve; much harder than scoring a goal from seven yards.
The first half of Roscommon v Armagh was a joy to watch.
As a former forward, I would have been proud to execute some of the scores I witnessed.
It finished up 2-21 to 1-19, with no negativity on show. The running and support play, the passing and scoring – it was pure magic.
It was just a glorious, defining weekend for the art of kicking an O’neill’s football over the bar.
There were too many brilliant scores to mention, but I’ll name check a few of the headline acts.
Conor Mcmanus – the best striker of the ball in the game – Neil and Daniel Flynn, Niall Sludden, Frank Burns – the man’s a machine – and Cathal Mcshane. To see Enda Smith burying his two goals in the manner he did, to see Mark Shields’ stunning finish for Armagh, it was an exhibition of skill that people feared was dead and buried.
There are only a couple of teams still putting their faith in the horrible defensive blanket rubbish we all hate.
All the defensive systems did was crucify the skills that were there in abundance in many intercounty sides.
The likes of Tyrone scoring 3-20 makes you take note. You can’t produce that if you’re using a total blanket defence.
But then my opinion of Tyrone probably changes week on week. They are trying desperately to shake off the blanket system.
Kildare could have easily scored 5-30 against Fermanagh.
It was only when Fermanagh decided to discard the defensive strait jacket in the second half that they gained a bit of respect in the way they played.
Leaving Portlaoise last weekend, I had a smile on my face like I haven’t had in a long time.
We’re into the Super Eights now and with the commitment to attacking football we’re seeing, I predict we’ll have a memorable finish to this year’s Championship.
This will be a watershed weekend and there will be no going back.
The blanket’s burning on the ground.