“It was unfair on the Galway backs” – Tomás Ó Sé admits that Kerry benefitted from unfair rule

“It is not part of our game, it is not our game."

Kerry legend Tomás Ó Sé was delighted to see his county beat Galway and win their first All-Ireland in eight years.

The former wing-back was applauding David Clifford when he leapt above everyone else to claim his mark and kick important scores, especially in the first half when The Kingdom were struggling. However, even in his delight, Ó Sé knew that his side were benefitting from a rule that, in his opinion, shouldn't even be in the game. The advanced mark rule was introduced in 2020 and was seen as an antidote to blanket defences. The official rule states that: “When a player catches the ball cleanly on or inside a 45m line from a kick in play delivered by an attacking player on or beyond the opposing team’s 45m line, that travels at least 20m and without it touching the ground." This confusing description to the rule has opened it up to interpretation, meaning that it is inconsistently used in games and when speaking to The Irish Examiner, Ó Sé admits that he wants to see it removed.

“Every team that has a good man inside is going to do well with it. Even if you don’t, you can still be cute to make the most out of it and you don’t need to be lamping it in from the half-back line,” Ó Sé said.

“It is not part of our game, it is not our game. It’s like a free kick and the back has done nothing wrong. I still see confusion among players in matches when they don’t know if it’s a mark or not. Different referees referee it differently.

“I don’t agree with David Clifford getting two marks in the first half of the final. Paul Geaney got one too and they all went a long way to Kerry winning it because without them they were struggling otherwise.

“Being at the game, as a Kerryman I was saying ‘great’ when they got those points but it is wrong and it was unfair on the Galway backs.”