Cork captain Anthony Nash thinks striking the ball against three men from 18 metres out rather one-on-one from 20m is the best solution to the hurling penalty conundrum.
Following the Rebel goalkeeper’s goal-scoring exploits over the past two years, the GAA moved to strictly enforce the rule that penalties must be struck from the 20metre line - rather than the taker first lifting the ball towards goal, as Nash did.
The GAA’s response quickly became known as ‘The Nash Rule’ but after Tipperary missed two penalties in the drawn All-Ireland final with Kilkenny it was felt that the advantage had now passed to the defending team.
Liam Sheedy’s Hurling 2020 committee proposed only allowing the goalkeeper on the line, rather than the traditional three defenders, and that rule was trialled in the pre-season competitions.
It won’t be in place for the league but could yet be introduced for the championship if a motion goes before Congress at the end of this month.
“If I had an easy solution I’d come up with it,” Nash told RTÉ Sport. “I think this will be in for championship because I don’t think there’s time to bring in anything else.
“I know Liam Sheedy and the 2020 Committee put a lot of effort into it and I had first-hand contact with it; we tried a few things. If it works, brilliant; if not I’m still a believer in the one-on-three with about maybe an 18-metre line that most fellas were doing beforehand.
“If you look at one-on-one it probably favours an attacker a bit more and is that what they’re looking for? Maybe rightly so.
“A penalty is a penalty but why didn’t they go for the 18-metre line? Maybe it’s more administration in having to organise a line and make sure you don’t pass that line. But you still can’t pass the line at the 21 from a one-on-one so I just hope it works, whatever they decide.
"I think they should have prolonged it [the pre-season trial]. Sure how many were given, really? We didn't face one with Cork in the Waterford Crystal. I faced one in the Canon O'Brien and it was scored.
“If it's a penalty, then fair enough unless it takes a great save from a keeper. The problem is what happens when you have a 21-yard free with the last puck of the game and you're two points down and you've six or seven lads on the line? The excitement is gone.
“That's what I would have liked but I didn't realise it [the trial] wasn’t going to the league. It was proven last year what that rule meant. If they go back to it in the championship we're going to be back discussing it again next year so they better come up with a solution sooner rather than later."
“If I had an easy solution I’d come up with it"
Cork face Kilkenny in the first match of the Allianz Hurling League on Saturday and Nash expects a firm challenge from the All-Ireland champions, despite the winter retirements of stalwarts such as JJ Delaney and Tommy Walsh, and the absence of the All-Ireland club final-bound Ballyhale Shamrocks contingent.
“There is going to be a lot of talk about retirements and the lads from Ballyhale not being there, but Brian Cody is going to try find three or four players to replace the guys who retired,” said Nash.
“And how are they going to be found only by playing and competing in the league? So they are going to be hungry to come down and stake a claim on the Kilkenny team.
“So it’s going to be a very hard game, but Cork and Kilkenny in Páirc Uí Rinn on a Saturday night is going to be a fantastic atmosphere and it’s something we look forward to.
“Kilkenny are the team that have set the bar over the last few years. They are a team that everybody likes to pit themselves against.”
The memory of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final thrashing by Tipperary, after winning the Munster title, is still fresh in Cork minds.
Although it has been ten years since the Munster champions last won Liam MacCarthy – Cork in 2005 – Nash is unsure whether going the qualifier route is any great advantage, despite the provincial winners’ five-week wait for the All-Ireland semi-final.
“I don't think that winning the Munster championship is a negative,” said the Kanturk man. “They might have a look at the five-week window but is it the reason we lost to Tipperary only? I wouldn't say so. Maybe we didn’t prepare well enough, mentally or physically, I don’t know.
“If they shortened it maybe we would have went with an advantage but then the other advantage of winning Munster is you've one less chance of getting knocked out. There's no perfect solution.
“If you win going through the qualifiers then yeah, but you are also taking a risk of losing. There are risks to extra games because every team is so competitive now.
"More games help but then you have to look at the fact that Tipperary and Kilkenny were in a league final as well, which I think is big thing.
“We want to get to the league final for the simple reason we want to play competitive games and that will lead us five weeks into championship."
Nash also revealed the surprise the players felt at the severity of criticism in Cork following that semi-final exit.
“Even our own people in Kanturk, you got a few comments, Facebook and Twitter and things like that which isn't nice to hear, and around the county,” he said.
“The true supporters would never do that, they know we're always going out to put in 100%. When we won Munster we were going to win an All-Ireland and when we lost to Tipperary, we were the worst team that Cork has ever seen.
“It was tough for a few weeks after, there's no point saying otherwise, but hopefully we won't put ourselves in that position again.
“A few lads that we would have played with came out with comments, I was disappointed with [that]. Because I would have togged out beside them in the dressing room, and it's easy to criticise. I hope when I retire that I won't criticise players that have played.
“Jimmy [Barry-Murphy] is fantastic and we wouldn't be where we are only for him. We've made three All-Ireland semi-finals, one All-Ireland final in the last three years so obviously the talent is there.”
