Hugh McFadden: Donegal star feels long kick-outs add to aggression at midfield

Donegal midfielder Hugh McFadden feels recent kick-out tendencies under the new rules have contributed to greater aggression around the middle of the field.

In the first half of Sunday’s Division One league final, McFadden’s team-mate Michael Murphy was shown a yellow card after coming together with Kerry’s Dylan Casey with referee David Gough seeming to indicate a striking motion.

Replays showed Murphy making contact with Casey, with many post-game opinions suggesting the Donegal attacker was lucky to avoid red.

Long kick-outs have become a feature of the game since the inception of the new rules and McFadden feels that is leading to an increse of heavy challenges as players scrap for possession.

“I was asked a question there about how the box kick-out has affected the game -around the middle of the field now is so attritional,” he said at Monday’s Ulster Championship launch.

“The increase in breaking ball compared to the old game has gone through the roof too.

“There’s so many aggressive, fit, strong, athletic, fast players running around breaking ball – the collisions now are just rising all the time.”

Murphy came out of retirement last season after two years and excelled in Sunday’s showdown, putting up 1-5.

Despite being 36, the Glenswilly native is showing no signs of slowing down, and McFadden was glowing in his praise of the 2009 Young Footballer of Year hailing Murphy’s ability, longevity and mentality.

“He always makes the right decisions, he’s a great team player.

“His passes sets up players that go in a certain direction – the way he plays encourages the team to make the right decisions as well in terms of his delivery and how he plays the game.

“That might sound very simple – he just plays football very well. He just makes the right decision so many times and is just an excellent footballer.

“I can’t put a short summary together now to eulogise his strengths and his dedication to the Donegal jersey but just the top form and the credit he deserves for being in the physical capabilities, giving his time out of the game, and he’s playing fantastic football and it’s exciting for all of us so fingers crossed that it lasts for the summer.”