6 days ago
GAA star labelled best player under new rules: 'He's a complete cheat code'
Rory Beggan has been described by Roscommon manager Davy Burke as the best player in the country under the new Gaelic football rules.
The 33-year-old has kicked 0-54 in 12 competitive games this year, scoring many a two-pointer from long range under the new rules.
Burke's Roscommon have faced Monaghan twice this year so the Rossie boss has seen first hand the damage Beggan can do from distance.
"We played Monaghan in the third round of the league in the Hyde and we restricted Rory Beggan to no effort at all for two pointers," Burke said on the RTÉ GAA podcast. "We beat them by five or six points.
"We met them in the league final again. And we had a similar plan to restrict Beggan and I think he got four of them.
"A couple of them were balls brought up (for not handing ball back), which is ridiculous really. And kickout marks, which are gone.
"He's a cheat code. He's a complete cheat code.
"Monaghan have the No. 1 player in this new game, in my opinion. He's the biggest threat to everybody. He could kick 0-10 in a game. He's phenomenal.
"Particularly with the 50-metre rule. If you're bringing any ball up, that fella can kick the ball from 60 yards over the bar.
"In fairness to the refs, they don't give away soft frees on the top of the arc. I would imagine they're discussing it themselves.
"They don't tend to give you a soft free at the arc because most teams are playing for them, let's be honest about it. So, they don't tend to give you them, which is fair enough.
"But the ones that are killing teams are the 50m ones. You might think a free up the field, there's no jeopardy to it. But if you stand in the way and they bring it up 50m and then the likes of a Beggan or a Niall Morgan can kick it from 60 metres and it's a real, real hammer-blow."
