The ‘Mark’ has run its course and needs to be deleted at the first opportunity

Declan Bogue

Patrick McBrearty

©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Patrick McBrearty

July 14 2021 07:50 AM

While Sunday’s clash between Derry and Donegal was much overdue and gave us a glimpse of what the Ulster senior football Championship could be like, there were so many sideshows to sit back and consider.

Apart from Derry looking like they have the fire in the belly again and plenty of organisation, there was a real classic duel in the corner all day between Patrick McBrearty and his marker, Chrissy McKaigue.

At times it was all you could look at as McKaigue kept his man scoreless from play for 75 minutes and didn’t foul him. A corner-back’s job is utterly thankless and you are always on a hiding to nothing, at the mercy of a referee’s call, but McKaigue overcame all that.

Which is why McBrearty’s point to settle the game in the 75th minute was nothing short of incredible. Watch it again and see how close he is to McKaigue along the right touchline as Odhran MacNiallais carries the ball, feigning as if he wants to get around McKaigue for the handpass popped over the head.

Suddenly he executes a ‘cut’ and gets two yards of space. He receives the ball and has less than a second before he had to take into account his balance, the angle he was facing, where the goals were, how likely he was to be blocked. And still he nailed it.

It was as good a score you could ever see.

Now, let’s pretend MacNiallais was further out the field, kicked a ball in that McBrearty caught and his hand went up in the air to claim a ‘mark.’

If a game such as Sunday’s was settled in such a fashion, it would feel like a great big con-job.

The ‘mark’ has been in for two seasons now. It was brought in by a Standing Committee on Playing Rules desperate to leave their mark, but leaving a mess behind them. Their case was made on purely numbers, kicking statistics, as if the game is not permitted to evolve naturally.

And there hasn’t been one positive reaction to it.

It has to go.

The ‘Mark’ has run its course and needs to be deleted at the first opportunity

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