The Rory Beggan conundrum continues. This weekend, the contestants trying to solve the puzzle are the Clare footballers.
During my Dublin career, when it came to taking on Monaghan, the two players we immediately thought of were Beggan and Conor McManus.
While the retirement of McManus has robbed Monaghan of their generational forward, the new rules in Gaelic football have armed their goalkeeper - also a generational talent - with a new set of arrows. I’m talking about two-pointers.
Beggan was Monaghan’s top scorer in the National Football League, finishing their successful Division Two campaign with 0-38. Within that total there were 17 two-pointers, all bar one of which came from a placed ball.
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He was back at it against Louth last week, kicking a pair of two-pointers from placed balls in a game Monaghan won by six points.
We’ll return to the merits of two-point frees later, but first it’s important to understand the dilemma facing teams in relation to Beggan’s attributes within the new rules.
The Monaghan No1 is among a crop of elite goalkeepers who changed the role and brought the position to a new level. When we were preparing to play Monaghan, there was a lot of emphasis on him, not just on his kickouts but also how best to deal with him when he comes beyond his natural area and roams further up the field. His foot-passing and general game awareness are of a very high quality.
We were also conscious of his ability to kick frees from distance, but the arrival of two-pointers to Gaelic football has been a game changer. It has really empowered Beggan and Monaghan in terms of taking on long-range efforts. In short, it’s worth the risk now.
In a year their greatest ever forward retired, who would have predicted they would put up such high scoring tallies?
That realisation challenges defenders and forces them to make split-second decisions that need to be perfect. Players who might normally tackle hard are being forced to reconsider their level of force against Monaghan. If they commit to a tackle against the Farney men, it better be right on the money.
The jeopardy has increased. The risk-reward equation is weighted in favour of Monaghan as they have Beggan to attempt long-distance frees. For defending teams, it means the potential punishment for a foul has been doubled. It’s almost too risky to tackle at times.
All of this creates doubt among defenders. Anxious not to be the reason Monaghan score a two-pointer, they step off. This leads to the kind of defensive uncertainty forwards thrive on.
If you step off a little bit against Monaghan, you are in danger of enabling strong ball-carriers like Conor McCarthy, Micheál Bannigan and Stephen O’Hanlon to break through the lines and punish you in open play. It’s a double-edged sword for defenders.
Conceding a long-distance free is potentially momentum swinging in a game against Monaghan because you just know Beggan is going to come up and have a swing at it.
There are even more elements to it as well. Monaghan will not only bring Beggan up to try bag the prize of two points, but as he prepares to take that kick, it is an ideal opportunity for his teammates to set up for the subsequent kickout.
It used to be very hard, at times, to get set on a kickout. With the new rules, where the kickout has to go beyond the arc, it’s a lot easier to get pressed up.
Free kicks and set plays are perfect situations to target kick-outs and it is something Monaghan do well.
Gabriel Bannigan’s men were the highest scoring team across all four divisions of the National League this season. They amassed a combined total of 193 points in their seven group games. Kerry were next on that list, with 170.
Monaghan’s average from those seven league games was 27.5 points per outing. In a year their greatest ever forward retired, who would have predicted they would put up such high scoring tallies?
They have put up decent scores in their two championship games so far this summer as well – 0-21 against Donegal and 1-23 against Louth.
Their high-scoring return is largely down to the factors I have highlighted: Beggan having the licence to kick from distance without fear of criticism should they not all sail over, plus Monaghan’s ball-carriers having the freedom to take on their man knowing if they don’t create a scoring opportunity, there’s a good chance they’ll draw a foul. And when they do draw a foul, that man Beggan will run up to take it.
Even if it doesn’t yield a score, Monaghan will invariably be in a great position to keep the opposition pinned in and steal the kickout.
There were occasions over the years when I questioned Beggan’s decision to shoot from certain difficult angles. Purely from a free-taking perspective, his percentages probably weren’t fantastic; I’d imagine they were below 50 per cent a lot of the time.
But those kicks are worth the risk now because two points are on offer, along with a chance to squeeze the opposition kick-out.
The Donegal game in the Ulster championship is the outlier. When Donegal were faced with the Beggan conundrum, they concluded that denying Monaghan frees would be the most effective way of negating their attack. To an extent it worked.
That’s why I think they shouldn’t be worth two points
Donegal defenders refused to commit themselves to any borderline tackles within scoreable range – which for Beggan is a considerable distance. Donegal were so disciplined that Beggan wasn’t afforded any opportunity of knocking over a placed ball two-pointer. At full-time, all the Monaghan goalkeeper had contributed on the scoreboard was one point, from a 45.
Monaghan still ran up a good tally of points in that game, but there were no frees from outside the arc registered. Indeed, only 0-2 of Monaghan’s 0-21 total came from frees – Micheál Bannigan kicking over a pair from inside the arc.
Donegal’s gameplan was built on a logic of taking away the weapon of Beggan’s frees. If imposed successfully - and it was - they knew their opponents would be reduced to scoring points from play.
You can be sure Peter Keane and his Clare management team have been discussing how to approach the Beggan conundrum this week. It’s a key area for any team trying to overcome the Farney County.
As for the two-point rule in general, while I’m not averse to the idea of two-pointers from open play, I think the punishment of conceding two points for what can often be an innocuous foul is very harsh. I don’t feel the punishment fits the crime.
Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t have been coming out with a protest against two-point frees if they were introduced during my Dublin career. But I honestly don’t think many of those scores from long-range placed balls justify two points.
Free takers are operating at such a high level now that many of those opportunities are well within their range. That’s why I think they shouldn’t be worth two points. Not that Monaghan are likely to be joining any campaign for change.
Their victory over Louth has put them in a strong position in Group Three and if they get over Clare in Clones on Sunday, Gabriel Bannigan’s side will be in pole position to top the table. It looks very likely that Rory Beggan will still be posing problems for opponents come All-Ireland quarter-final weekend.
