You can't be too careful with head contact

Patrick Horgan reckons that Cork manager Ben O'Connor has a point when he says that hurling could become too much like soccer, but he stresses that you can't be too careful when it comes to head contact.

O'Connor told RTÉ Sport that too much is being made of some of the incidents, and that some players or managers were "roaring for red cards, yellow cards" for minor offences.

Last week, he was quoted saying that hurling was becoming too much like soccer, and that "the fellas above (are) trying to cleanse" the game.

On Saturday night, in a game that saw Cork's Shane Barrett and Tipperary's Jason Forde sent off for their part in a melee at the end of the first half, he held firm, saying: "That's what the helmets are for. No fellas are getting a belt down on the head deliberately. All we're looking for is the game to be left flow."

And while Horgan, who retired from his inter-county career with the Rebels at the end of last year, says that his former Cork team-mate has a point, he believes that head contact is a different issue.

"He has a point in a lot of things, but in the head contact, not so much," Horgan said on RTÉ's Allianz League Sunday.

"It's something that can't come into the game. Now more than ever the players are stronger, fitter, more powerful than ever before.

"They're moving at a really fast speed so any kind of a collision can be dangerous. Out of all of his comments, that's the only one he might take back."

Speaking on the same programme, Ursula Jacob echoed Horgan's concerns about the idea of normalising head contact.

"Wearing a helmet doesn't give you absolute protection," the four-time All-Ireland winner with Wexford pointed out.

"You have to be very careful saying that, 'a tip to the helmet'.

"We're not looking to take physicality out of things but the onus of responsibility on improving how you tackle a player has to come down to the players themselves.

"We're seeing too many incidents where people are getting flicked by the helmet. Some of it is accidental but there is an onus of responsibility on the players to get their tackles right.

"There's a skill in tackling and I think that's maybe lost a little bit."

Tipperary native and former Dublin hurler Ryan O'Dwyer weighed into the debate on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, saying: "No lad goes out in an inter-county game to intentionally hurt someone. No one is going to do that.

"You saw on Saturday in the melee, there wasn't one punch thrown, there wasn't reckless use of the hurley, and yet someone gets sent off."

A straight red card for a role in a melee in hurling could be regarded as a draconian sanction when contrasted with the punishment in football, which is a black card and 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

O'Dwyer believes the current rule in hurling is one that GAA HQ must review, and he added: "I think what needs to be looked at, rather than putting all the blame on the referee – because the referees are trying to implement the rulebook and what's there – I think the rulebook needs to be addressed and maybe a committee set up to address the issues and the talking points every weekend that are there about controversial decisions made.

"You're nearly shooting the messenger – the referee being the messenger. You're shooting the messenger for implementing what they have to do."

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