'Art of defending is back' under new rules says Cork footballer Seán Meehan

Cork senior footballer Seán Meehan is a big fan of the new football rules.

They have been a huge success since being brought in by Jim Gavin and his Football Review Committee for this year. The rules were passed at a special congress meeting last Saturday.

The Kiskeam player has really enjoyed the new game.

“As a defender, I think the new rules are excellent,” the teacher in Ovens National School said to The Echo recently at the launch of Rebel Réalta.

“I think the art of defending is back. It’s you against the man. If he beats you, fair enough. If you get the ball off him, fair enough.

“That’s back and I suppose players are flourishing. You see obviously your classy, classy forwards, the likes of Steven Sherlock doing very well in the club championship under the new rules. The really good forwards are making the most of it, Chris Óg Jones is also doing very well.

“These new rules are suiting those type of players down to the ground. It makes the job then as a defender much harder, but that’s what you want. All the rules have been great so far. I think the solo and go is excellent.

“It’s brilliant because it speeds up the game and I suppose a faster game is more exciting for everyone to watch anyway.” 

It was another year of ups and downs for the Cork senior footballers. They finished fifth in Division 2 of the league, a Munster semi-final loss after extra time against Kerry before the campaign came to an end a couple of months later at the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final juncture against Dublin.

The new inter-county season won’t be long coming around with pre-season training starting at the end of next month.

“Look, I suppose it’s an exciting one every year, you go into it full of hope as well,” Meehan says looking ahead to 2026 with Cork.

“And I suppose like that, everyone goes out and to be fair, you put in a hard pre-season and you work as hard as you can and that’ll be no different next season again.

“John [Cleary] is staying on for another two years and the coaching staff are staying on as well. It’s brilliant because look, the players are really on board with what they’re trying to do and they really want the players to push on as well.

“We were all delighted to hear John was staying on and it’s a case of pushing on from where we are now really is the thing.” 

It’s clear what the main aim will be for the Rebels in 2026, at least at the start, and that will be to gain promotion from Division 2 of the league. That has been the objective for the last few years and it hasn’t changed.

Hitting the ground running will be crucial with the draft fixtures for the league to be released in the coming weeks.

“We need to start well. Through the course of the season this year, the rules were actually changing as the year went on and that was challenging. 

“We’ll have a set of rules that won’t change in 2026 and we’ll be able to really, really work on them." Meehan concluded.