When is a two-pointer not a two-pointer? The new rules in Gaelic Football are continuing to spark debate.
And they were again highlighted at the weekend following the awarding of one point instead of two when Galway goalkeeper Conor Gleeson helped the ball over the bar, taking advantage of the rule.
Former Kerry manager and current FRC member Eamonn Fitzmaurice spoke about the incident on the RTÉ GAA Podcast and offered his opinion, while also explaining the thinking behind the rule.
"There is a lot you can say about the incident," said Fitzmaurice.
"It was a significant incident at that time of the game, the flow of the game, and everything else.
"You have to give huge credit to Conor Gleeson to get a touch on it, Stephen Cluxton did something similar in Portlaoise last weekend when he got a touch on one of the long Meath two-pointers.
"I didn't think it was as conclusive as some people are saying, it did look like it was all the way over the bar, when Glesson managed to get a touch on it, so it should have been two in that case, and that’s an officiating mistake."
Fitzmaurice said that the rule did cause much debate when it came to predicting the scenarios that could arise from such a situation, which was really aimed at taking the uncertainty out of the situation and making it easier for the officials.
"The rationale is that we did debate around this particular one and it was trying to write a rule in terms of how far out do you allow a touch?" added Fitzmaurice.
"If it comes in and a full-forward and full-back are competing for it and it is added to, is that still at two-pointer. And we debated if it was just the full back, it can stay as the two-pointer, and it could be [a question as to] who got a touch on it.
"So it was to try to make it as clean as possible from an officiating perspective.
"We saw yesterday what can happen in that situation and I know there was commentary around you’d hate to see that being a deciding factor in a game, especially in the knock-out games in the championship
"And from the FRC perspective, when anything like that happens, we are discussing it, seeing if it is something that we need to consider.
"To me if someone kicks from outside the arc and the full forward touches it before it hit the ground, it becomes a one-pointer, but how do you decide how significant a touch, so that was the rationale."
