Ethan Dunne enjoying the challenge of new rules with DCU

​By Paul Keane

After three games of the Ryan Cup, the senior football league for third level teams, Ethan Dunne and DCU are flying high in Division 1. And taking the experimental rules in their stride.

Wins over ATU Sligo and ATU Galway, followed by Wednesday evening's 2-18 to 0-10 defeat of University of Galway, propelled the Sigerson Cup hopefuls through to a home quarter-final tie in just under a fortnight.

From observing their last two games, both wins over Galway opposition, they have dealt with the three hand-pass limit, part of a suite of experimental rules developed by the Expert Advisory Group and on trial in the competition, largely at their ease.

They didn't breach the rule once in either of those matches with players vocally policing the directive, calling out 'two' and 'three' to alert colleagues when the limit is in danger of being breached.

Against ATU Galway, DCU's hand-pass to kick-pass ratio was 1.5 to 1, a massive reduction on the figure of between 3.8 and 5.3 to 1 which EAG chair Kevin McStay said had prevailed, 'depending on what competition you're analysing'.

DCU midfielder Dunne, who played for Dublin in both the National League and Championship this year, said it hasn't proven troublesome to implement.

"We've been practising it in training and we seem to have grasped it quite early on, so we are used to it now," said Dunne.

Whether he actually favours the limit is another thing.

"I just don't think I see the need for it," he shrugged.

The Skerries man can see the value in the back-court directive, or the over-and-back rule, which prevents a team from returning to their own half with the ball after crossing the half-way line.

"It gives you a chance to press out and kind of force the other team back, especially at the end of a game, when a team might be trying to hold onto the ball," he said. "They're kind of limited then with the space they can use."

The enhancement that Dunne really likes is four points for a goal. Rippling nets isn't necessarily his forte, his USP is plucking kick-outs and passes from the air, and linking up the play, but he sees great value in increasing the value of goals.

"It adds a bit of value and I think it's good, it just kind of adds a bit of excitement," he said.

"It doesn't feel much different, the game generally, but I do really like that four-point goal and the impact it can have.

"You saw it last week against ATU Galway, they got a run of goals and then with about 10 minutes to go it was 3-17 to 4-7 or something like that and all of a sudden it's down to nearly a single score, five or six points only in it. So I can see the potential in that for some serious excitement in games."

The original thinking of the Football Review Committee was that four-point goals would neatly dovetail with two-point scores. Dunne tends to agree and said he'd be happy to retain that element for inter-county competitions in 2027.

"Definitely yeah, because I think goals should have slightly more significance, with the introduction of two-pointers," he said. "I do think they should be worth that bit more because if you kick, say, three two-pointers, that's the same as two goals. Now with these rules, if you kick two goals, well that's four two-pointers so it really adds a bit more significance to the value of a goal and I like that."

Fisted points aren't permitted under the trials though Leitrim's Jack Kelly, one of DCU's most prominent forwards so far in the competition, attempted a fisted score late in the first half against University of Galway as he attacked the goal at an acute angle on the right. A free out was awarded and Kelly immediately realised his error.

"That's the first time I've seen that happen in the three games we've played," said Dunne. "It was force of habit, the point was there to be taken, under normal rules, so the instinct kicked in. That new rule, it just gets you thinking and it will become a subconscious thing in time, if the rule stays in."

A pattern of players using hand-passes mainly to negotiate the higher-risk/higher-opportunity situations around the field - like when a defender is boxed in at the back and trying to escape a group of players, or when a forward is attempting to work a move to break through a defensive line - has been evident.

"That's it," said Dunne. "And if there is a six or a seven-yard kick-pass there, you'll give it because it just kind of gets it out of the way per se because, yeah, you're trying to save them (hand-passes) for tight areas."

DCU goalkeeper Mike Tansley, who played for Kerry earlier this year, impressed again from the tee on Wednesday and got 12 of his 14 kick-outs away successfully. Despite the opportunity to go short inside the arc, he only did so twice. That's partly down to Dunne presenting an attractive option for a long kick-out to midfield, as well as having limited time so far to develop fresh strategies for short restarts.

"You find yourself talking with lads in the group, especially about the short kick-outs, are you going to incorporate them or are you not going to incorporate them, because they aren't going to be part of the Sigerson Cup rules for us," said Dunne.

"The long kick-outs are still there, which I'm kind of happy about. But the option is there now as well, so it just gives teams a different dynamic to go after if they want to."