New penalty on trial in Walsh Cup.

Report from www.gaa.ie

One of the main proposals in the Hurling 2020 Committee’s report, which was released in Croke Park on Tuesday, is a new interpretation of the penalty which will be trialed in the upcoming pre-season competitions.

The story of how the penalty became such a major issue hardly needs retelling but here’s a quick recap nonetheless: essentially a vagueness in the rule as it stood before last summer, allied to bigger hurleys and lighter sliotars, meant that the distance between the ball striker and the three defending players on the line was often reduced to between 10 and 13 metres and there was an obvious safety concern for players as a result.

Hurling 2020 Committee Report

Arising from those safety concerns, the Management Committee of the GAA made a recommendation, which was subsequently endorsed by Central Council, and a new interpretation of the rule, essentially stopping the penalty taker from striking the sliotar before the 20 metre line, was endorsed on June 10, midway through the championship.

According to figures released in the Hurling 2020 report, the effect of this interpretation was that of the advantage swinging significantly towards the defending team, with just 20 percent of the penalties taken in the Liam MacCarthy Cup competition after the rule change scored. Further concerns were raised when the three penalties awarded in the All-Ireland senior final and replay and one in the All-Ireland U21 final yielded just one point in total.

With this in mind, the Hurling 2020 Committee deemed it necessary to hand the advantage back to the attacking team by favouring the penalty taker, while ensuring the safety concerns that led to the rule change in the first place were still addressed.

Hurling Penalty Trial

On October 4, the Hurling 2020 Committee, chaired by Liam Sheedy, organised a testing session at Semple Stadium in Thurles involving a number of inter-county players, either goalkeepers or expert placed ball strikers, including: Colm Callanan (Galway), Joe Canning (Galway), Shane Dowling (Limerick), Eoin Kelly (Tipperary), Patrick Kelly (Clare) and Anthony Nash (Cork).

Referee Johnny Ryan (Tipperary) supervised the session and it was recorded on video, which clocked shots at over 150km per hour.

The following variations on the penalty were trialed:

• 1 on 1 from the 20m line (ball can be placed outside the 20m line but cannot be struck inside 20m)
• 18m shot with 3 in goal (ball can be placed outside the 20m line but cannot be struck inside 18m)
• 1 on 2 (to be struck no closer than the 20m line)
• 1 on 2 with Ball in Hand (to be struck no closer than the 20m line – no free taking movement required).
• The trial also included 20 metre frees from the edge of the D with 3 in goal.

A total of 114 shots were taken with the following success rates:

• 1 on 1 – 62%
• 18m shot with 3 in goal – 48%
• 1 on 2 – 42%
• 1 on 2 with Ball in Hand – 24%
• 20m Free from the Side with 3 in goal – 22%

Taking all the data into consideration, the Hurling 2020 Committee concluded: “While compensating for the fact that multiple inter-county goalies were in goal for some of the trials where two or three defenders were on the line, the highest rate of success was the ‘One-on-One’ shot where the placement of the ball rather than sheer power came in
to play.

“We have also received support for reverting to a shot from 18 metres which would most resemble the spirit of the original rule where the striker would take a couple of steps before striking the ball. The difficulties of this proposal would be a) the addition of a new 18 metre line in all GAA grounds, similar to the penalty spot in football and b) safety concerns about hitting the ball from this distance from the defenders on the line.

“Taking everything in consideration, the view of the Hurling 2020 committee is that the ‘one-on-one’ proposal gives the attacking team the best chance of success as well as creating a new and exciting set-play where the goalkeepers will pit their reflexes against the best strikers from the opposing team.

‘A trial period for this rule in the 2015 pre-season competitions such as the Waterford Crystal Cup, the Walsh Cup and the Kehoe Cup has been requested of the relevant Provincial Councils to allow everyone an opportunity to see how the new ‘one-on-one’ shot works in a match setting.”

Speaking at the launch of the report in Croke Park on Tuesday, Hurling 2020 Committee Chairman Liam Sheedy said not only will the one-on-one penalty hand the advantage back to the attacking side, it will also help eliminate cynicism from the game, particularly instances of players being dragged down by defenders on the edge of the square.

“Twenty percent (was the figure for converted penalties)…you will get managers and teams to cop on and say ‘Listen, bring him down, they won’t score the penalty anyway’,” Sheedy said.

“It’s probably a bigger issue in club, because you’re not as well equipped, you don’t have the Joe Cannings and the guys who are exceptional at piledrivers.

“And it might change the dynamic a bit, where it’s not just solely about power; it’s about positioning and placing. I think it was 62pc in the trial and I can see that going to 80pc.

“So I believe we’ll flip it from 20-80 to 80-20 with the change, and I think it gives the advantage back to the forward and it should help to deal with the cynical fouling.”

The ‘one-on-one’ penalty will come into effect in the pre-season competitions, starting with the Waterford Crystal and Walsh Cup competitions this weekend. The proposal will then be considered at Congress in Cavan in February and, if accepted, will be adopted for five years, starting with the 2015 Championship.

Read the entire Hurling 2020 Committee Report here

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Complied by Brian Murphy