Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BIT LONGER IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Armagh Tyrone Athletic Grounds, Sat, 7.30pm BY ORLA BANNON
MICKEY HARTE believes penalty shoot-outs should be trialled over a longer period before being used in championship games.
The GAA’S move towards same-day outcomes began last year with ‘65’s in hurling and ‘45s’ in football, after two periods of extra-time. Those were then changed to free-kicks.
But the trend picked up pace in this year’s pre-season competitions, with penalties taken in Connacht’s FBD League and Leinster’s O’byrne Cup.
The Tyrone boss will have no problem if Saturday night’s Dr Mckenna Cup final against Armagh has to be decided by spot kicks (if two 10 minute periods of extra-time can’t separate the sides first).
However, he would like to see them in action a bit more before supporting their introduction on the biggest days in the calendar.
“I think I’d like to see a more meaningful experimentation with that, before it comes in for really critical games.
“If games are to be finished on the day and after extra-time they’re still level, then there has to be some way of concluding them,” he said.
“The free-kick situation didn’t get a long life, did it? First of all it was 45s, then it was free-kicks.
“We need to see more.” Saturday’s Central Council meeting may well rubber-stamp the introduction of penalties for knockout league matches, All-ireland qualifiers and All-ireland hurling preliminary quarter-finals. They could also apply to provincial final replays.