Time to play game fair and square

Jack O'Connor's column: Jack O'Connorsays a ruling is needed on what is fast becoming the talking topic of the summer - entering the square

Legend has it that the legendary Kerry full back Joe Keohane used to come out at the start of a game and draw a line in the sod with his boot. Joe would then point to the line and kindly explain to the opposition full forward that were he to come across that line Joe would have to kill him!

The patch of ground that Joe was talking about was roughly the size of the small square. All these decades later that small patch of ground is giving rise to more dispute than it ever caused between Joe and a full forward.

Three crucial decisions on square ball issues have had a huge bearing on this year's championship already. Donegal's last-gasp winning goal against Armagh saw Kevin Cassidy contest the ball on the goal line with Paul Hearty. Padraig Berry's "disallowed goal" came at a crucial juncture in Longford's clash with Laois and had a huge bearing on the outcome. Alan Brogan's goal for Dublin before half-time in their game with Meath looked way more "offside" than Berry's effort, yet it was allowed.

There is a serious case to be made for concluding that all three decisions were wrong. In this day and age that just isn't good enough. Each square ball decision had a huge bearing on the result. It has since emerged that even individual referees have different interpretations of what is a square ball and what isn't a square ball. John Bannon has said that once a forward isn't in the small square when the ball is kicked he gives him the benefit of the doubt.

You don't have to look far to see that this view isn't held by all referees. The Longford forward definitely was not in the square when the ball was kicked and he appeared to time his entry perfectly. The height and trajectory of the kick facilitated this - yet the goal was disallowed.

On the other hand Alan Brogan's goal was definitely illegal. Conal Keaney's delivery was at much lower trajectory and the ball was travelling much faster. Alan Brogan is quick, but he would have needed to be jet propelled to get in there after the ball had entered the small square.

This is a total grey area and it leaves far too much to the referee's discretion. Referees, being human, have to make a split-second decision and they usually side either with the home team or the team that are expected to win.

I have more reason than most to have a hard and fast opinion on the square ball rule. I was on the receiving end of a couple of dubious decisions in Hogan Cup semi-finals with my school, Coláiste na Sceilge. That was five or six years ago and it still hurts.

We have long memories in Kerry. Denis O'Dwyer punched a goal in the 1998 All-Ireland semi-final against Kildare that was subsequently disallowed for square ball. Video replays showed it to have been a perfectly good goal and the decision cost Kerry not just the game, but possibly an elusive two in a row.

Ironically, the reason that the square ball business is such a live issue this summer is that teams are kicking the ball a lot more in this year's championship than in recent years. People always think that the side who win the All-Ireland have some sort of magic formula.

Kerry won last year with the modh díreach and a big target man. The theory is that the quicker the ball is put into the scoring zone the better the chance you have of scoring. We scored 11 goals in three matches when Kieran Donaghy went inside. We had scored no goals in four games before that.

Kieran's brief was to stay as close to the "offside" line as possible. The closer he stayed in there the more space he gave himself to come and attack the ball. So he pulled back to the far post, the edge of the square and waited for the diagonal ball to come and he could attack the ball across the goalmouth in front of the square.

He did the job perfectly, but I bet Kieran never thought when we asked him to go in and stand at full forward that he would have such an influence, not just on last year's championship, but on the style of play in this year's competition also.

In the future, though, things have to change. Teams invest too much effort and money in preparation for big games and it is unfair to have this time bomb ticking away under them as a game unfolds. Goals have a critical bearing on big games and a decision on the square ball can be the difference between glory and despair.

Imagine the ruaille buaille if this happens in an All-Ireland final and decides a close game. All hell will break lose. At least the teams on the receiving end so far have all had a second chance. If it happens in September a year will seem a long time for the victims to wait for retribution.

The bottom line is that for most of the time it is impossible for a referee to judge rightly or wrongly whether a man is in the square before the ball enters the airspace above the white line which marks that square. So why not adopt the Joe Keohane method and take everyone out of their misery. No forward allowed inside the square, Good bad or indifferent. This would clear the matter up for once and for all.

Time to draw the line.

Agus rud eile

Years ago when I lived in New York and played football in Gaelic Park I played a couple of seasons there with Clare.

There was a fella in charge of us who was an old style fan of banging the table before games. For big matches he would even go so far as to jumping up on to the table. His managerial philosophy was to strike the fear of god into lads and then to see what happened. I remember once at half-time he turned to one of the lads who Clare had invested some money in bringing over from Ireland. He roared "you're inside there in the corner and you wouldn't break eggs."

Our man went out in the second half and he scored 1-3. I said later that night to the manager, listen if you'd said that to me at half-time I wouldn't have gone out for the second half at all. Listen, he says, sure I knew it would work on him.

Maybe he was a sports psychologist before his time. I don't know though. I don't think that the old style table banging theatrics have any place anymore.

There is an obvious lesson to be learned from the Clare and Cork fracas in Thurles and all the fallout since then. Two teams shouldn't be let out together down a narrow tunnel in such a charged atmosphere. In many ways it reminded me of the running of the bulls in Pamplona , men blindly charging down a narrow street swiping everything before them.

A bit of rumpus is inevitable when players are so hyped up after the frenzied orations in the dressingroom. On big match days in Croke Park an official is assigned to each team to cover logistical matters such as what time the sides come out.

Does this system not apply in Thurles? Did it break down? There is a lesson for all teams though from what happened. Before big games a team can be out on the field for over 20 minutes before the ball is thrown in. That's a long time to be charging around all hyped up.

Players have enough nervous energy to deal with at that time of a game without being driven to new heights by some table banging 25 minutes beforehand. It is counter-productive. Players have to get out onto the field, do some drills, get some focus, absorb the atmosphere, march in the parade, stand for the anthem. If anything you want players to be calm until the very last minute.

A manager going around like a raving lunatic doesn't keep a player focused. When a player comes out he can't be casual but neither should he be wired to the moon. Ready to fight but not fighting is the mantra. How a player handles the emotion can often be the difference between victory and defeat. You want the player to be ruthless but not reckless.

We'll never know what was said in either dressingroom, but the game in Thurles when it came about, was quite a tame affair. The nervous energy was all spent.

That's the lesson.