BY JARLATH BURNS

comment@gaeliclife.com

Last year I attended my first Rugby international in Croke Park. Ireland v Wales. As the anthems were finishing, I looked round and spotted Danny Lynch, former GAA PRO behind me. Trying to be a smart assed, traditional, GAA northerner and slightly embarrassed at having been 'caught' at a foreign sport, I turned round to him and said 'Hi Danny; tell me the rules of this game'.

Quick as a flash, he replied 'Every man on the team behind the ball; Just your typical Ulster championship match'. He laughed, but the point was made. We in Ulster may fight with them, argue, bicker about the southern media, but last Sunday we gave them a penalty kick and they took it. Because we in Ulster are so precious about how we do GAA, sometimes it leaves us wide open to those who might sneer at our approach, our passion and our conservatism. That is why Sunday's game left me so angry.

Monaghan aren't a bad team, they are now a top eight side in the country and are ambitious and confident. Armagh played them in the league this year. This was a local derby, a big crowd and more pride and jealousy at stake than the small matter of the points in a pointless competition. So both teams were primed and up for it. The first ball in the first minute of the match saw a bit of afters from Tommy Freeman. He was immediately shown a yellow card and watched the rest of the game from the hut.

After that both teams realised that what they were in involved in was a football match and whether they liked it or not, they would be made to play. And play they did. Monaghan then proceeded to deliver probably one of the finest displays of scoring, passing, catching and every other skill you could ask for and by half time we knew they had Armagh on the rack. In the second half, things began looking nasty again. Another yellow card. And all was well again for the remainder of the game and Monaghan won.

The Ulster Council, county boards, schools and GAA clubs spend countless hours and lots of cash on coaching. Foundation courses, level one, games for team play, coaching the big player, conditioned games. If you look at their website, you'll see them advertised all over Ulster. There is a greater emphasis nowadays on ever before on how to play the game, the basic skills, developing tactics, getting scoring options right – the whole lot.

All of this effort is directed towards the final product which is the elite players playing the game in its finest fashion as the shop window of the sport. Sunday wasn't that. It was all that is nasty, ugly, hateful and cowardly about our game. Everyone loves a hard physical match with plenty of hitting and no compromise. But we all know the difference between that and what we saw on Sunday.

Part of why I was so angry on Sunday is that this year we came tantalisingly close to saving our game from the exactly this type of behaviour. There is a tendency to blame the 'GAA' for all our woes, but not this time. The 'GAA' spotted the fact that our games were going down the tubes in a flood of defensive negativity and moved to change it. They failed because less than two thirds of those who went to Congress agreed with their proposals.

I don't subscribe to the notion that the normal rules could have improved the game had they been applied. They were applied by an effective referee who had a good game.

The blunt truth is that the current rules of gaelic football allow for every player to make one atrocious tackle in every match with absolutely no sanction other than a meaningless yellow and a free. Many players pushed this loophole to the limit on Sunday. There are some players who would be mortified if they didn't receive a booking in a match. They can't believe why other players don't also use the system to 'stop' players.

And the match? Derry displayed in patches why they are many people's favourites to lift Ulster. Their defence was diligent and worked the ball superbly into the danger area. The problem was that when they got to a place where the next pass was to a Bradley, they were met with a wall of blue.

Gerard O'Kane was an inspiration, a future captain and a fine leader. He did everything right and worked superbly off Kevin McCloy and Sean Leo. Their half forward line should give cause for concern however. They were nowhere to be seen and it was only when Mark Lynch came on that they began looking like the team they could become.

Monaghan's decision to play blanket defence in the first half when they had a gale force breeze undid them. Our fixation with this tactic in Ulster is becoming worrying. When you have the wind, you attack with abandon and try to get as big a score up as you can.

At half time, you assess where you are and vow that the first score after half time will come from your team against the wind. This should lift the team as you head into the breeze and the second half. Only then do you sit back, soak it up and then counter. Starting off with a defence phalanx when the elements are on your back is bad tactics. But we haven't seen the last of either of these teams. Hopefully it's the last time they play each other for a long time.

Bearing in mind that traditionally, All Ireland champions are flat in the first round the following year, Armagh have nothing to lose. The Orchard men are past masters winning tight Ulster championship games, but I feel the odds are too highly stacked against them this year. The loss of Charlie Vernon, the great McGrane, Francie, Paddy McKeever and Oisín would be hard for any team to take. The absence of a natural successor in any of these positions and the general newness of the team means that this year, we might just have to be content with winning the All Ireland through the scenic route. I suppose it'll just have to do.