ON THE FACE of it, you’d think it was a fairly impressive evening from Armagh and their manager Kieran McGeeney.

A fortnight ago, there was a lot of noise being made about Dublin and their ‘new team’ after they reeled in a Kerry team down in Tralee.

And by the same token, the following day there was a lot of tut-tutting about Armagh when they went up and – with many of the All-Ireland winning team absent – were taken care of by Donegal.

Armagh in the Athletic Ground are a different proposition. They feed off the manic energy in there. On Saturday evening, the main stand was packed out, even before an hour to throw-in.

With Dubs milling about, there was something of a carnival atmosphere pre-game, with the sound of steel drums mixing in with the finer evening. Armagh absolutely bossed the game apart from a wobbly period in the third quarter. They scored a confidence boosting win over Dublin. They preserved the pride of the Athletic Grounds. They got some vital minutes into some fringe players.

And yet, Kieran McGeeney is absolutely hopping over some of the more troublesome of the new rules, or ‘rule enhancements’ or whatever you want to call them.

After fielding a couple of harmless questions about their fast start and having Oisín O’Neill making his first start since 2021, he is invited to make a comment about how thick and fast the games are coming with this, the third week in a row.

“Personally, I think that stuff is a load of… Playing a game a week? I don’t buy all that shit, but that’s just me,” he said.

And when asked about the reason for the frequent huge turnarounds we are seeing in games played under new rules/rule enhancements, he zeroes in on the 20-second guideline for goalkeepers to get their kickouts away.

Both Evan Comerford and Ethan Raffery fell foul of it here. Even when, as pointed out in the live RTÉ broadcast, they hadn’t even taken their full allocation of 20 seconds.

Armagh goalkeeper Ethan Rafferty. Andrew Paton / INPHO Andrew Paton / INPHO / INPHO

The punishment is not, as you to be previous, a throw-up ball. No. Now it’s a 13 metre free against those that offend. The first time you see it, you think it’s harsh. The second and third, you realise it’s a savage punishment.

“I feel for the referees, I’m not laying the blame on that there,” started McGeeney.

“There are things that are improving. The ‘tap and go’ is good, trying to get the quick kick-out is good. I just think that everybody needs to pull back a wee bit. People are getting carried away with themselves.”

Asked if the new rules robs the game of a little nuance here and there, he continued, “You’re not allowed to have tactics. Listen, they (referee decisions) have huge impacts on games. You’re sitting there after maybe hitting three points in a row and next thing a free goes against you and it’s a point.

“The punishment far outweighs the crime, far outweighs it. You’re just giving a point. A 13 metre free, it’s a point. That’s some punishment! I understand the time wasting element but you would think if it was a time infraction that you would add on time.

“Because that’s obviously what they (time wasters) are trying to waste. The same as a tap and go, if someone is trying to stop it, you allow them to continue…that’s what the punishment is supposed to reflect.

“Give the benefit of the doubt to the person on it…but listen, I know most of that stuff will make headlines and I’ll probably get it in the ear but I still cannot understand how you can have a free, a penalty, where you don’t know what the time is.

“And even with that, you need a time clock then to be able to establish that. You can’t have it…like, if they want to work on ‘maybes’, work on the tackle or something.”

Sometimes, McGeeney gets like this. And it’s just his nature.  He is a coach and a manager who has a very black and white world view.

Therefore, the uncertainty over the new rules, have him up the walls.

“We’re under the impression now that they’re going to pull the ‘keeper (prevent the 12 v 11 overload), we don’t know. We’re four weeks out from Championship. Tactically a lot of teams have spent a lot of time on it. And yet depending on their whim (it could change).

“You don’t want this to be a crying-fest. There are things that are helping. And they’re good.

“It’s the same thing as I sort of say, when the ball goes off the field, you get the ‘keeper to go and get it. Two ball boys would be a great addition but you’re not allowed them because seemingly they could be passing secret messages or something.

“It’s just a simple sort of thing. That would be a good thing to encourage things to get quicker. I understand that, and there is the basis of that, but I just think that when you set rules, like, they went through Congress but you also put a rule in that we can make a change any time.”

And then, he pulls back.

For now.

“Listen, I’d be better parking it and talking about the game. I don’t want to be getting in trouble the whole time.”

It would be a dull world without him.