St Patrick’s, Maghera trudged their way to a one-point win over Abbey CBS, Newry in a 0-2 to 0-1 game.
Irish News journalist Cahair O’Kane caught some of the game and the footage shows Abbey CBS sitting back extremely deep with the Newry side effectively able to kill the game off as any sort of spectacle.
The low scoring game, and the introduction of such tactics at such an age, has drawn the ire from a number of prominent GAA personalities who loathe such defensive heavy tactics in schoolboy football.
This was from an U15.5 schools game today. It finished 0-2 to 0-1. Abbey CBS are the team defending, Maghera (scored 6-32 in their two games before today) on the ball. This happened in Tyrone-Monaghan recently too, becoming more regular. The rules simply have to change #GAA pic.twitter.com/FDMNIh18kd
— Cahair O'Kane (@CahairOKane1) March 1, 2019
https://twitter.com/Woolberto/status/1101535780642717696
@Abbey_CBS desecrating the game today in a Brock Cup (u15) schools game v @StPatsMaghera. Played with all 15 inside the 45 for 50mins. Pushed up in last 10. HT 0-2 to 0-0. FT St Pats 0-2 Abbey 0-1. Stomach churning for all great abbey teams & past players pic.twitter.com/s6acftS9lR
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) March 1, 2019
We see this regularly in club football, where the 15-man defence is even more prevalent than at county level. The rules changes were inadequate #GAA
— Liam Farrell (@drlfarrell) March 1, 2019
GAA Hour host Colm Parkinson wrote about the rise of defensive oriented teams last year and noted how he felt that they were regressive and also relied entirely on the opposing team pushing up and forcing the play.
“Ultra defensive tactics will have some short term success but they’re regressive and one dimensional. They depend almost entirely on the opposing team pushing up and forcing the play, giving them the turnovers they require. As Dublin showed last year, when embarrassing Tyrone, if you’re patient and don’t bring the ball into contact, these defensive tactics look very ordinary. As we have seen, when they came up against tactically astute teams and managers that mirror their system, they struggle.
“Jim McGuinness brought this system into the word of Gaelic football in 2011. He had the element of surprise for almost four years, beating teams on the counter attack. He won the All-Ireland in 2012 beating Kerry, Cork and Mayo, crowding the defense, turning the ball over and hitting them all on the break. His tactics were copied by many counties and surprisingly still are.”
Colm Parkinson: The secret is out on Carlow and Galway and their outdated tactics
