‘The halfway line is my enemy' – Armagh's Ethan Rafferty frustrated at restriction on goalkeepers under new rules
ARMAGH keeper Ethan Rafferty sees the halfway line as his nemesis under football's new rules.
Goalies can only receive the ball in open play from a team-mate if they cross the halfway line or if they are in their own small rectangle and are given the ball from the big one.
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Rafferty loves to roam upfield, even scoring a point in
Armagh fired five two-pointers to gun down the Sky Blues as the hosts kicked 17 wides.
But Rafferty feels keepers are missing out on all the fun parts of the FRC's new rules.
The Orchard No 1 said: 'I just wish I could get up more in the game. The halfway line is a bit of an enemy for me at the minute. Some people are happy about it but that's just the rules.'
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Dublin were 0-6 to 0-3 up after the opening quarter two weeks ago, but Armagh came roaring back, kicking three two-pointers to take a 0-13 to 0-9 half-time lead.
Rian O'Neill and Rory Grugan nailed a combined five two-pointers in all against Dessie Farrell's men.
Rafferty explained: 'We had a wee bit of a gust in the first half against Dublin, so Rian nailed the first two-pointer. If you get the first one you sort of settle into it.
'We went from maybe three points down and kicked two or three in a row and were a couple of points ahead, but if Dublin kicked a couple of them in the second half, which they're well capable of doing, the game is different.'
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That victory sealed top spot in Group 4 for the All-Ireland holders and a quarter-final berth.
It means they could rest easy ahead of tonight's clash with Galway — a repeat of last year's Sam Maguire decider.
GAA fans 'loved seeing and hearing' the late Micheal O Muircheartaigh as he features in RTE documentary Hell for Leather
Pádraic Joyce's men will be out of the Championship if they lose and Derry pull off a result against Dublin in Newry.
Rafferty knows Galway will be eyeing revenge but, having lost the Ulster final to Donegal, Armagh want to keep up this winning run in their quest to retain Sam.
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He said: 'We still have a massive game against Galway.
"I'm sure they would have been seeing us in the group after we beat them in the final last year, so we know it will be a tough match and perfect preparation going into a quarter-final.
1
He's among the best ball-playing goalkeepers in the country
'We're 2024 All-Ireland champions but we're playing the 2025 Championship, so it's in the rear-view mirror.
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'We have to look forward and that's just been our thing this year, trying to see where we can improve and get better.
'You will get bumps on the road obviously, like the Ulster final, but we'll take this challenge against Galway and go head first into it.
'It's a good challenge for us in our mindset knowing that the game doesn't matter for us.
'We still have to try and get two points. That's the challenge.'
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Photograph: Donall Farmer/Inpho 'I've never been ashamed to be a Kildare footballer, until tonight,' tweeted Eamonn Callaghan, the Kildare captain. 'A disgraceful way to treat a man who put so much heart and effort into Kildare football,' said Emmet Bolton. 'Brainless fools,' said Alan Smith. 'A black day for Kildare GAA,' said Johnny Doyle at the time. 'I've never felt as empty.' [ Malachy Clerkin: Mayo's decision to oust Kevin McStay was fair enough but the way they did it was foul Opens in new window ] 'When he came to Kildare, he totally immersed himself within the county,' Doyle says now. 'We felt that we were the most important people in his life. Everything he did was to make us better. Challenged us, absolutely. Could be very hard on us at times. But what I liked was the honesty he brought. He got rid of a lot of excuses.' The only context for McGeeney's time in Kildare now is hindsight. This weekend is the 21st edition of All-Ireland football quarter-finals. 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'I mustn't be doing the right thing with them for them to perform like that. I have to change what I'm doing because I don't think they're that bad.' And yet there was never any whiff of mutiny. Players didn't walk away, or brief against him. They had his back. 'There are times you do feel you have let him down,' said Mark Shields in 2019. The Armagh county board were remarkably patient and loyal, too, but there were other layers to that relationship: keeping McGeeney on board made business sense because fundraising is integral to the service McGeeney provides. When he took on the Kildare job the county board was a financial basket case, but McGeeney took fundraising for the team off their hands. In 2012, the Kildare county board reported a surplus for the first time in six years, even though team expenses had been €525,000 for that season. In Armagh, he has provided the same service. By 2019, the county board was 'in the black' financially, after years of being in the red. McGeeney's capacity to run a self-sufficient operation was critical to that change in circumstances. And yet McGeeney's survival for so long in the job without any significant success was extraordinary. 'I met Arsene Wenger at a workshop 10 years ago,' says McNulty, 'and he spoke for half an hour about motivational stamina. He spoke about staying motivated when people are criticising them, challenging them, maybe even sticking a knife in their back. But to stay going. Kieran is the epitome of motivational stamina.' [ Football prelims had a whiff of predictability, but it's anyone's guess from here to the final Opens in new window ] Wenger had a similar experience at Arsenal in his final years: not winning anything; not sacked. In that case, waiting didn't work. In Armagh, the waiting nearly reached a bloody end in 2023 when there was a push against him from a rump of disaffected clubs. The county board executive supported McGeeney en bloc and the heave was comprehensively routed, 46-16. 'It was really difficult on Kieran,' says Kernan. 'It was hard to accept given everything he had done as a player and as a manager. My father [Joe] won four Ulsters [as manager], an All-Ireland, a National League. But I know by the time he was finishing up there were players on the county team who thought he had overstayed his time. 'I know those conversations happened. It was hurtful for me as his son and for us as a family because of everything my father had given and the success he had brought. But the reality is some people don't give a shit. They don't care what you've won. They just look narrowly.' McGeeney was spared that indignity. Armagh won.
