Kevin Cassidy: Are you not entertained?

AS I made my way home from Connacht last Sunday evening, I just couldn’t keep the smile from my face.

I was returning from covering the Roscommon and Down game, whilst also having watched all of the other National League games, and to say that I was buzzing with excitement would be an understatement.

Now let’s state the obvious. It’s early days yet in terms of the new rules. We are all still getting used to them, officials included.

While there were one or two mistakes over the weekend, I think that everyone would agree that it was a very positive weekend for Gaelic games.

To be honest, before I watched the games live, I thought that I would have an issue with at least one or two of the rules. Now, if I’m being completely honest, they all seem to make sense.

I have to applaud the FRC because they really have thought of every scenario and what they have brought to the table ticks all the boxes in terms of the remit that they were given.

I felt the game was way more enjoyable to watch. The ball was in play for longer and more opportunities were created. It just felt like an exciting sport to watch then when you compare that to the absolute muck that we had to watch over the last number of years. There is no one who can argue against these changes.

Teams will no doubt get better in terms of handling the rules and games will become a little tighter, but one thing I did realise is that, no matter where you are on the pitch, you will be handed a one v one opportunity.

That means that if you have the skill sets, then the opportunity is there for you to take your man on something that just never happened over the last number of years.

One thing I will point out and it may be a little controversial to say it, but the days of stealing an inter-county career are simply over.

Let me explain what I mean by that. If your skill set is of a high standard, then this game is made for you. If your skill sets are not up to what they should be then there is no sugar coating it, you are going to struggle badly with these new rules.

Forwards now need to be able to win their own ball, have the ability to take their man on and have the accuracy and ability to kick scores.

Defenders, on the other hand, need to be seriously disciplined in the tackle, they need to be comfortable with one-to-one defending and also, they must have the skill set to kick forward out of the defence.

There is no doubt that we all have a lot of work to do in order to get used to these changes. I feel that it’s totally refreshing, returning to underage coaching next week with our u-12s, knowing that all we have to do is simply coach them the basic skills of a game.

With each passing week, I think the game will improve even more when the players get a full grip on things.

This weekend, I’m looking forward to seeing how Donegal will cope as they face Dublin and the first outing of the year.

It could be a slight advantage given the fact that Dublin have already played a competitive game under the new rules, but home advantage in Ballybofey should even that out so I think we could be in for a cracker.

As I said last week, I don’t think, at this stage of the season, we are too bothered about who is going to pick up the two points.

The focus is more about how the game looks, and what teams seem to be adapting to the changes better than others.

I think that by the time we reach round three or four, we should have a better feel of things.

When you look at the scores across the divisions last weekend then it brings my mind back to a quote from Russell Crowe (pictured) in the Gladiator film.

After causing complete destruction in the Colosseum, Maximus turned to the crowd and said “are you not entertained?” It’s hard to argue with that.

Check out this week’s edition of the Gaelic Lives podcast with Colm Cavanagh looking into the rivalry between the counties, the new rules and Malachy O’Rourke come on board as the Red Hands’ manager.