IN ALL FAIRNESS - Bore-fest Football can be easily fixed

Last weekend should have been the peak for Gaelic Football, eight of the best teams in the county playing in Croke Park in what should have been a feast of football. Instead, what we got was underwhelming.

Kerry v Tyrone didn’t sparkle as we hoped, primarily because we got peak Kerry who were so tuned in facing their great rivals that there was going to be no repeat of the 2021 All-Ireland semi-final upset, despite David Clifford having an off day in front of goal, though he still produced a moment of genius for their second goal. It can be hard sometimes to appreciate a great player in our own time, but we are watching an all-time great at the moment.

It didn’t help Tyrone that they were coming into their third game in as many weeks and if there is something to be take from the first year of this new format, your final placing in the group is so important and direct passage to the quarter finals and a weekend off is hugely beneficial.

The only team that bucked that trend were Monaghan who will be everyone’s sentimental favourite to go on and win the All-Ireland, despite being the outsiders of the four remaining. They don’t want to hear the condescending soundbites that have followed them around regarding their population and punching above their weight as they have been at the top table for almost a decade now, and arguably they have underachieved in recent years. For the likes of Conor McManus and Kieran Hughes, they are running out of time to win an All-Ireland and the manner of their last two wins against Kildare and Armagh, when they were the ones that held their nerve in the closing stages, will stand to them if they can take the Dubs into the closing stages of their semi-final.

That will be a tough ask as Dublin look to be purring again, judging by the manner of their second half display against Mayo. However, it might have been made look a little better by the fact that Mayo looked a little spent in the second half as the exertions of having to play Galway in such an attritional game seven days previous had taken its toll.

Still, on the face of it Dublin looked good with Stephen Cluxton’s kick-outs getting things in motion, Brian Fenton back to his best at midfield and up front, Colm Basquel and Cormac Costello now leading the attack. And then you have Conor Kilkenny, Dean Rock, and Jack McCaffrey to come off the bench. It does have a vibe of the band coming back together for one last go and it will take a good team to stop them as their peak.

The dream final would be Kerry v Dublin, but Derry are likely to be the side that could scupper that. Their defensive set-up will cause Kerry problems in the semi-final, plus they have a counter-attacking style that gives them chances to score at the other end of the field.

Their quarter final against Cork last Sunday was a hard watch, two teams that play more or less the same way but for all their progress this year, Cork didn’t have the belief to attack with greater pace and acceleration to give themselves better looks at goal.

Indeed, the first three minutes of this game were an example of why Gaelic Football is not a good spectacle at the moment.Cork held on to the ball for almost the entire period, and Derry were happy enough to let them have it as they were confident that once Cork tried to penetrate their defence that they could turn them over or force them to shoot under pressure, and it worked considering that Cork scored 1-8 off 33 shots at goal.

Now, Derry are entitled to play the game under the current rules, and they don’t have to apologise for anyone for playing that way, and to their credit they have looked to play a more attacking style this year. However, what we don’t want is more and more teams going down this possession route, as Roscommon did to an extreme level against Dublin when they held the ball for six minutes, and ended up being rewarded with a score, plus the got a draw out of the game.

If the game follows this trend, you will see new rules coming in to prevent teams from playing fifteen men behind the ball so as to allow more space for attacking play, or once you cross the opposition 65 yard line, you can’t pass the ball backwards. A shot-clock has also been muted but that would be a last ditch measure in my view.

The one thing I would like to see removed from Gaelic football is the handpassed point which is now becoming a blight on the game. We are being denied so much more action in the form of potential goals and saves, as with the continued allowance of the fisted point players are right to take the certainty of the point but if that wasn’t allowed to them, we would get a lot more goals which have become increasingly an endangered species, and will benefit the game as a whole.