THERE'S NO PERFECT WAY TO LOSE

Is there anything that is as magnificently enthralling and as mercilessly cruel in sport as a penalty shootout? We've had two of them in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada this year alone and I firmly believe there is nothing that beats the drama and tension of a spot-kick contest at the end of games.

The images of hordes of young fans thronged behind the town goal in Pairc Sean will be replicated each and every time a game goes to penalties and the tension was no less in the main stand as the unfolding drama played itself over ten separate but connected instalments.

Two top knocked out as Mohill & St Mary's Kiltoghert set up League final rematch in Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Final

St Mary's beat Fenagh St Caillins 5-4 on penalties after 0-12 apiece draw while goals from Keith Beirne & Ronan Kennedy see Mohill to a 2-10 to 1-0 victory over Leitrim Gaels

It was fascinating just to watch how the different players even approached walking up to the penalty area to take their kick - some slowly walked from the fifty yard line, some jogged, but however they approached that little white spot, their nerves must have been going a mile a minute.

I remarked to one of the successful penalty takers how cool, calm and collected he appeared in dispatching the ball to the net only for the player to remark how he was, to use the parlance, bricking himself as he took the kick - he certainly didn't look it.

For keepers Sean Reynolds and Shane Doonan, some claim they are in a no-lose situation as nobody would blame them if they don't make the saves and they are the heroes if they do - I can guarantee you that neither would think that way and they're probably still replaying in their minds the saves they didn't make.

But  if making the long  walk to take the kick is tough, imagine standing there on the sideline, all alone, watching your rival keeper attempt to prevent your teammate from scoring and then having to endure the sight of an opposition forward stroll up to the spot and stare you down, only the kicker knowing what he is going to do and where the ball is going to go! 

Two top knocked out as Mohill & St Mary's Kiltoghert set up League final rematch in Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Final

St Mary's beat Fenagh St Caillins 5-4 on penalties after 0-12 apiece draw while goals from Keith Beirne & Ronan Kennedy see Mohill to a 2-10 to 1-0 victory over Leitrim Gaels

There are many who detest the notion of penalty shootouts in gaelic games - some because of the cruel finality that a penalty shootout has to end with somebody failing to put the ball in the net. Others think it has too much of the old “other sports” about it while there are quite a few who believe that if you earn a draw at the end of normal or extra time, the least you deserve is another day out. More still think when you get to the semi-final stage, replays should be in place - the same as for finals.

There's merit in most of those arguments but the “other sports” one has long sailed with sin-bins, yellow,  black and red cards, kicking tees, multiple  substitutions  all now firmly embedded in the culture of the gaelic games - penalty shootouts are the latest new fangled idea to get up the noses of people but tell me the perfect way to end the championship dreams of any team?

A last second winning goal or point is cruel - for all the joy that Aidan Rooney, Seamus Quinn or Declan Darcy provided against Galway and Roscommon in delivering the late, late dagger, I don't think I've ever got over the silence and shock of Roscommon grabbing that goal against Leitrim in the 2003 Qualifiers!

Send the game to replays sounds grand until the reality  of it becomes apparent - had Fenagh and St Mary's gone to a replay, it would have been this weekend with the final a week later, leading to calls to have the final put back a week in the interests of fairness. But what about the knock on effects for Mohill waiting for the final, for the Intermediate teams or the second and third string teams still involved in Junior championship games not to say anything of the knock on effect of pitch availability for ladies and juvenile games.

Would it have been fair on the players involved? Would Ryan O'Rourke have been able to play as he seemed to tweak his hamstring in extra-time  and what would that have done for Fenagh's chances?

Check out part 1 of our fan photos from the Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Semi-Finals - GALLERY

Willie Donnellan was a busy man with his camera at the Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Semi-Finals on Saturday in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada - check out who he captured in our first gallery from two intriguing semi-finals!

Many advocate a freetaking competition - a lot of merit there but when it was tried out before, with the kicks from the 50 yard line, it had to be abandoned with already exhausted players pulling muscles with the strain of kicking from distance.

Maybe move the frees in closer to the goal but again, where is the battle of wills between kicker and keeper? At least the keeper has a chance to stymie the opposition in a penalty kickout. 

As for replays coming in for semi-finals , where exactly do you draw the line - going out in the quarter-finals is just as cruel so why not there? Why not do away with scoring difference and heads to heads  to decide qualification from groups and we'll end up in some never-ending loop of playoffs to decide playoffs to decide qualification for knockout stages ad infinitum!

Penalty kicks are cruel, my heart went out to the Fenagh players, and Riordan O'Rourke in particular, but looking at the bigger picture of  easing the burden of training, travel and time on players and clubs by sticking to a defined fixture programme, penalty shootouts and finish on the day protocols are here to stay until somebody comes up with a better way to decide these issues.

Ironically, with the way the game has developed over the past few years with defensive screenings, massed defences and possession based attacking, penalty shootouts are the last true one on one contests in gaelic games - keeper against kicker; kicker against keeper, harkening back to the days when stopping one player on the opposition team could guarantee you victory.

 There are echoes of that era  in Keith Beirne, Michelle Guckian, Ryan O'Rourke or a Muireann Devaney, players who dominate games  seemingly by force of will but even that quartet are reliant on the quality of ball that gets to them and most teams spend a lot of their time working out how to free their scoring machines, intricate game plans that end with the star firing the ball over the bar.

The era of game defining full-backs or soaring midfielders commanding all they see is long gone, they are still vitally important but  nobody but nobody leaves their defence exposed nowadays while crowding out the star midfielder is a tactic as old as the hills. Systems are  employed in the Ladies game every bit as much as the men's and you can see it becoming more prevalent in juvenile football as the era of catch and kick and one-on-one marking has gone the way of catch & kick,  the flat cap and 21-a-side games.

Fans thrilled by Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Semi-Finals - GALLERY PART 2

Part 2 of Willie Donnellan's gallery of fan photos from Saturday's Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Semi-Finals in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada .... see who you can spot!

Truth be told, Saturday's penalty shootout was the high point of the Men's Senior Semi-Finals as tactics and formations dominate the game now. The Mohill and Leitrim Gaels contest was a much more exciting affair than what preceded it but neither game came close to the excitement and entertainment levels that we witnessed on Sunday in the Ladies Senior B Final.

That was a throw-back to the good old days of gaelic football with open football up and down the field. There were mistakes, errors and bad shooting   but that didn't detract from the entertainment value - if anything, it added to it. But  when you delve down into it, Kiltubrid's defensive alignment was probably the key reason they got the better of Ballinamore Sean O'Heslins and the Inter county ladies game at the highest level is taking the route of the men's game - how long before the ladies club game adopts the tactics of the men's club game?

I'm not some curmudgeon harking back to the good days of catch & kick - as entertaining as it was, when you watch some of the old games, I can't believe how much aimless kicking there was, how often the ball was just booted away and how the game relied far more on one or two individuals than the team dominated era we have today.

I have no hesitation in saying that men's club football is tactically and technical far superior to football 30 years ago, the skills of the players, tactical awareness, game management and even cynicism is far in excess of what we witnessed in the past but is it as entertaining?

Probably not but it is fascinating - Mohill's victory over Leitrim Gaels turned on an errant pass but the League champions had the vision and skills to execute a blistering move almost on instinct while the clear intent on working scores, protecting defences and maintaining possession from all four semi-finalists was evidence of hours of work on the training field.

It is what made Sunday's Ladies Senior B Final so welcome and so entertaining and congratulations to Kiltubrid on lifting the first Championship trophy of the year. We're in for a blizzard of Finals over the next month from men's to ladies, hurling, to juvenile. Here's hoping  we get the entertainment we all crave but we wish all teams the best of luck on their big day.