Dara Ó Cinnéide: Maybe it's worth Gaelic football going to 13-a-side

In freshers games later this year, the standing playing rules committee will oversee experimental changes such as the longer kick-out and prohibiting frees, 45s and marks from going backwards between the two 20-metre lines.

Ó Cinnéide is wary of too many changes being made and the danger of them being counter-productive but senses people want alterations to make the game more appealing. 

“Is it worth going 13-a-side? Automatically, it creates more space. The one I always have in the back of my head is the ball can’t be back-passed to the goalkeeper. You remember Paul Parker and Peter Shilton and the passing they did to one another and how boring it was but that rule change put a stop to it.

“I played in the league in 1994 when there was a limit of two successive handpasses and you have to kick it. I don’t think the game or the GAA community was ready for it but they are now. They will do their window dressing with the freshers.” 

As a result of a successful motion put forward by Kildare club Raheens in 2020, a player who collects a kick-out cannot pass the ball to the goalkeeper without another player playing the ball. Ó Cinnéide wants to see that rule expanded.

“Kerry got to a point this year where they were comfortable using Shane Ryan as an outfield player. Ethan Rafferty is probably the ultimate example of one. I don’t think you should be able to pass the ball to a goalie. A goalie is a goalie. That’s very traditional thinking but Stephen Cluxton sticks to it.

“It wasn’t good for soccer to have that back-pass in the late 1980s, early 1990s and it shouldn’t be in Gaelic football either, to be able to pass the ball to the goalie under any circumstances. We’ve reached a point now where the goalkeepers are the talking point. It’s boring, it’s awful stuff.” 

The element of risk and reward must return, he says. 

“My old fella is 78 and you ask him ‘what would make the game better for you?’ and he would say he just wants to see contests again. That day is gone since Donegal came and that’s over 12 years now. People want to see contests, not marks.

“Once you go over the halfway line, you can’t go back… how enforceable is that but it would improve it and bring more of those buzzwords we heard during the championship like jeopardy and risk. At the same time, I firmly believe that you have to accept games are going to be coached a certain way and if these rules were brought in they would be coached around.” 

The quietness in the stands and Hill 16 for the final was startling, Ó Cinnéide feels. 

“The All-Ireland was funny this year because of the pauses and silences. Given the noise that greeted the parade. People are just yearning for individual battles, physical contests, collisions, two people jumping for a ball. It’s just gone.

“It’s all clever stuff now, thought out, pre-planned. More time and effort is being put into but it doesn’t make for good viewing and the bums on the seats, while they’re still there, aren’t enjoying it.” 

The advanced mark, he argues, has backfired. 

“A couple of years ago, it was obviously thought this would help the game at county and club level but it hasn’t. No matter what rules are introduced, it’s about creating contests. We want to see that.” 

As his An Ghaeltacht face the Cliffords’ Fossa in this Saturday evening’s Kerry intermediate championship opener, Ó Cinnéide readily admits he and the management team won’t be sending them out to play with flair. 

“I’m on the sideline with the club again this year and we’re sending out players to play this way because invariably it will win them a game. We got promoted from Division 2 but why am I not excited by it?

“We miss the mano-a-mano. ‘Mind the ball’ is the catch-cry now. It’s discouraging all sorts of contests. You just feel you can see what’s happening next, like watching a movie knowing the ending.”