PAUL CONROY’S ability to adapt to football’s rule enhancements with such ease has rubbished the notion about old dogs and new tricks.
And the Galway star, who feels the game had become blighted by ‘too much lateral stuff and too much boring play’, believes the dog days will be over if the rules are retained.
For Conroy, that ability to kick long-range scores and compete in the air has always been in his locker.
The Football Review Committee have simply redrawn the parameters to wring more of the good stuff from players like the veteran midfielder, who was already thriving at the age of 35.
Conroy starred in Castlebar last Sunday as Galway made it back-to-back Division 1 victories by running out 0-26 to 0-16 winners over Mayo.
He said: “I think it was our second league game last year where we drew nine-all with Roscommon, whereas this year there were over 40 scores in ours and Mayo’s game.
“It’s definitely a lot better to watch and I’m sure for players . . . well, for me anyway, I think it’s very enjoyable to play in for the moment.”
Conroy, who debuted in 2008, became the oldest player to win the Footballer of the Year award last October.
The St James’ man added: “At the moment the way the game is with the new rules, I feel it suits me as a player.
“I like to kick the ball and I don’t mind competing aerially in the middle.
“There’s a lot more kicking and kick-outs, which suits me.”
Having landed FOUR two-pointers in a challenge match against Kildare in early January, Conroy scored his first in a competitive fixture as Galway started their season by beating Armagh.
The introduction of the 40-metre arc has also significantly impacted kick-outs as the ball must travel beyond it from a goalkeeper’s restart.
Conroy said: “For a midfielder, that most of them are going long, I think that’s a big one.
“People like to see a contest and players like a contest as well. And the ability to be able to take more shots.
“Before it was all about percentages and working it into zones and where you’d kick from, now if you take a couple of two-pointers and they don’t go over, if you do get one or two of them you’re still coming up with four or six points out of maybe five shots.”
While this is still a testing phase for the formula to cure the game of its ills, Conroy is keen to see the rules implemented on a permanent basis.
He said: “Personally I prefer the game the way it is at the moment. I think it’s enjoyable and I don’t have any massive issues with any of them.
“You’re always going to have rules that people aren’t happy with. But at the moment there’s a good product there.”
MORE CHANGES NEEDED
Insisting that it is ‘definitely a faster game’, Conroy endorses the proposal of Donegal boss Jim McGuinness for teams to be afforded the use of six subs instead of five.
Concerns have been raised that such a tweak would make it more difficult for weaker counties to compete with those who have larger panels.
But Conroy said: “You have to look after players as well. We’re not too bad this year in terms of injuries but I know Dublin had a couple of hamstrings at the weekend.
“Thankfully I’ve been lucky but I do know they’re tricky to get right and they could be three, four, five weeks trying to get a hamstring right.
“You’re missing a lot of games then and when you return you’re probably not ready to go straight back into games. So I think there are a lot of pros for having the six subs definitely.”
Galway’s next match will see them taking on Derry away on Saturday week.
l PAUL CONROY was speaking at the announcement of Solgar as official vitamin partner of the GAA/GPA.
