AS THE GAA football league gets ready for the off, we look at some of main issues that will occupy the minds for the next few months.
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1. The Rules
We would be fairly confident in saying that no sport has ever attempted such a reinvention such as Gaelic football could experience in 2025.
All we know is that while certain sports have made subtle tweaks such as soccer with the backpass rule in 1992 and the introduction of the shotclock in basketball back in 1954, they ended up making those sports a different spectacle.
Gaelic football and the various elements invested in the sport have collectively sat on their hands and watched the game being brought to the logical conclusions of coaches who were prepared to look at the game in terms of numbers and real estate.
It coated the sport in a dreary magnolia. Afternoons attending big games soon were deflated into passive experiences, supporters checking their phones rather than being caught up in on-field drama. The occasional good game inevitably brought the wisdom that there was nothing wrong with the game as long as it is played in a certain spirit.
You didn’t have to wait long for the next pig of a game to act as a counter-argument.
The changes are wide-ranging and ambitious. What will and what won’t work, remains to be seen. Reactions from players, managers, supporters could colour the future of any of the changes.
How referees deal with the two-point shooting arc, while being down on pitch level is a huge ask. But we are firmly in the ‘suck it and see’ camp and wish the best for the game.
As the league gets underway, Jim Gavin, chair of the Football Review Committee has promised the rather grandiosely-titled ‘Games Intelligence Unit’ will gather and release data weekly to illustrate how certain metrics of Gaelic football is changing.
Laudable, maybe. But figures and stats are always susceptible to vigorous massaging.
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2. A big return in Donegal
Veterans everywhere will be watching with great interest how the Michael Murphy Comeback Tour goes with Donegal.
A few things to note.
When Murphy played his second-last game for Donegal, he was cramping badly in the 2022 Ulster final against Derry, and the word came from the sideline for Brendan Rogers to drive at Murphy for the closing stages. It was the winning of the game.
Three years later, he returns to a game that has changed in terms of the increased workload the middle eight players will have to do.
What’s more, when he went back into training with Donegal, he sustained a hamstring injury. And he was also tried out as a potential goalkeeper.
His return might suggest that he will operate as a forward lying close to the opposition goal, or as goalkeeper.
And having said all that, it’s worth pointing out that he is the same age as the current Footballer of the Year, Paul Conroy.
Will his comeback be that of a Brian Corcoran, or a Diarmuid Marsden?
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3. The Dubs Dilemma
To lose one of the greatest modern midfielders of all time could be considered unfortunate.
Losing two just seems like carelessness on the part of Dessie Farrell. But this is where he is after Brian Fenton and James McCarthy both decided time was up for them with Dublin.
In an in-house interview this week, Farrell gave a clue about the scale of the reinvention of the Dubs when he said there were 16 newcomers in the panel training away.
Given his displays in winning the All-Ireland club title and his obvious physical gifts, the statuesque Peader Ó Cofaigh Byrne looks a good shout for one of the berths, but Farrell will not rush him through for this weekend.
Elsewhere, there is the 6’2” James Madden who has returned home from his AFL adventure with Brisbane Lions.
They won’t lack for candidates, but how the chemistry is worked will be interesting.
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5. Who wants to win the league?
There used to be a very solid argument that teams had to get used to a little bit of success before they could land the big one.
It did Cork no harm to win their first league in 11 seasons in 2010, when they won the All-Ireland later that year.
In the last 20 seasons, eight of the league winners have later gone on to win that year’s All-Ireland, though the trend has slowed down considerably with only Kerry in 2022 the last team to do that particular double in six seasons.
Going all out for the league last year was meant to propel Derry to a hat-trick of Ulster titles and Sam Maguire, but they fell asunder after it, even allowing for the three weeks recovery gap.
This year, the league finals for Division 1 and 2 are due to take place on 30 March.
The following weekend, Roscommon, Galway, Mayo, Donegal and Derry are out for the first round of their provincial championships.
So it’s a case of, The League; a great competition to play in, but not to win.
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6. Let’s Play Politics
As it happens, this year’s Congress is planned for Donegal town, the Abbey Hotel on 22 February.
By then, we will have had three rounds of the league played, a decent sample size to judge how everything is bedding in with the new rules.
A reminder that when the rules were voted through in late November, they enjoyed almost universal support.
Should things not go according to plan or a decent noise is made after games by managers and players, it will be interesting to see what kind of pushback might emerge from delegates in Donegal.
Just get behind the new manager, especially as the guy doesn’t sound like a bad candidate. These kinds of headlines won’t do anyone favours.
Icelandic club sides are doing something right in producing players as well, despite only having a population of what, 300,000 people? If this guy knows a thing or two about strengthening player production underage too – brilliant.
@Richard Murphy: exactly, well said
The poor Irish journalists are upset that they didn’t have a scoop so they are turning in Canham.
Give Hallgrímsson a chance. Let’s all get behind him and back him. See how he goes.
We’ll know quick enough whether he is good or not.