2025 - A super year for football but issues remain

RTÉ News​

2 days ago

Despite an anti-climactic end to the inter-county season, the 2025 championship will go down as one where Gaelic football recovered its mojo.
Reflecting back on the season, there were roughly 15 games which we'll remember as classics. Many of these occurred in the group stages, which are now being put out to pasture.
It's a mark of how successful the new rules have been, that people are getting buyer's remorse about a change in format which will mean fewer games next year. Whatever about the issue of jeopardy, this could be a sign that supporters are beginning to enjoy watching Gaelic football for its own sake.
Not that there aren't still issues that need to be ironed out.
Jim Gavin's FRC is still in place and keeping a watchful eye over the development of the game. There are more sandbox games due and more rule changes being tested.
One is the four-point goal, which was probably discarded too early. Goals were slightly up this year, though there were so few in 2024, this isn't much of a boast. In theory, the three-up rule should have led to way more goals given the extra space available. But then, the two-point arc has changed the mindset of teams, making them less likely to seek out goals. We probably need to restore the premium value of the goal.
A switch back to a four-point goal would have the added benefit of leaving games more in the balance coming down the stretch. Teams wouldn't be able to rest as easily on leads.
Like a lot of supporters, I'd prefer to see more contact in games. The game in 2025 is much more forward-friendly than it was in 2024. Cahair O'Kane of the Irish News suggested that the pitch in Croke Park needs to tightened a few yards to promote more contact.
It's notable that the more compelling and intense games happened in tight pitches in the group stages - the Derry-Galway thriller in Celtic Park being the most obvious example. There was a real physical edge to the game, with the ref allowing plenty of contact, which created several turnovers, with Derry ravenously hunting down Galway in the first half in particular.
By contrast, the matches in Croker tended to be a bit more sterile, with longer periods of possession play.
Personally, I'm still not sold on the hooter, in any guise. The initial hooter rule, where it halted the game regardless of what was happening on the pitch, brought its own problems, as we saw with the controversy over Meath's late winning goal in Mullingar in the league.
The change they made towards the end of the league, where the game is over once the ball goes dead, promoted the scenario we witnessed at the end of the first half of the final as Kerry nursed possession until the hooter sounded to ensure they had the final attempt on goal.
Call me old-school but I rewind the clock back to 2024 on this one. Bring back injury-time, with the final whistle at the discretion of the referee.
We're about to see how the rules will hold up in the maelstrom of the club championship.
I can report that it has made the games more enjoyable to play, at least for most players. I myself am still stationed at wing-back and my hamstrings are hanging by a thread. The old repeat sprintability probably isn't what it was. But I'm getting there, I'm getting there...
So far, the policing of the three-up infraction has left a bit to be desired. It's been fairly inconsistent and ad-hoc. (If I may say at this point, Westport GAA were especially screwed in this area over the course of the league, although this is probably not the forum for that.) There might be one or two three-up infractions called for every five or six committed.
Going back to inter-county, there is a narrative developing that Kerry have laid waste to all their nearest competitors and are primed for a period of dominance.
I wouldn't be too alarmist on that, though there's no doubt that they've adapted brilliantly to the new rules, and their age profile is excellent over the next few years. They have probably the greatest footballer of all time in their attack, who looked unstoppable this season.
David Clifford cut a very frustrated figure in last year's semi-final loss to Armagh. In the previous game, he was nearly a decoy against Derry, being forced to chase Chrissy McKaigue up the pitch. This year, he was a man reborn.
But, against that, they were pushed hard by Cork in Munster and Meath shocked them in Navan. Kerry brought a snarl and a fire to their play that will be hard to replicate in 2026. Much of this year came from the fact that they'd been dissed, in their own county as much as anywhere else. That won't apply next summer.
The Ulster teams may be reeling after a chastening season and they may have to reconfigure how they're approaching games in the post-FRC era.
Donegal and Armagh adopted a similar defensive approach against Kerry, with the result that they were killed on two-pointers. Tyrone pushed up more and paid more attention to Sean O'Shea and Paudie Clifford but with the result that they left David Clifford in oceans of space inside. They were blessed not to concede more goals.
Either way, we have decent evidence that the zonal defences used by Donegal and Armagh have their limitations against teams with a high quality two-point kickers.
They may need to re-think what they're doing to better fit with this brand new era. Some counties - Donegal and Mayo in particular - will need to develop a two-point threat. Sunday's final underlined again what a handicap it is not to at least carry the threat of a two-pointer, at least to force opposition defences into making a decision.
Kerry will almost definitely start 2026 as favourites and the chasing pack have plenty to think about. But then they have plenty of time in which to think. We'll reconvene in January.