Gaelic football enters new era – and I have reservations

Tyrone vs. Derry Allianz League Division One

Date: Saturday 25 January Throw-in: 18: 00 GMT Venue: Healy Park, Omagh

Chrissy McKaigue, a two-time Ulster Champion, will appear on Saturday’s BBC Gaelic Games coverage of 2025, starting with Tyrone v. Derry. The recently retired All-Star defender explains his reservations regarding the new rules for playing that will be implemented this weekend in this video.

Although the new league season always brings excitement and intrigue, this one will be unlike anything we’ve seen before.

I have a lot of reservations about the Gaelic football version that will be playing in the upcoming weeks, to be honest.

The Football Review Committee, which has driven these changes, are referring to the new rules as ‘ enhancements’, but I’m not convinced.

For example, I struggle to see how the new kickout will have a positive impact. The game won’t improve if a kickout has to go beyond the 40-meter arc, in my opinion. Quite the opposite, in fact.

The solo and go is another issue that bothers me. It can be passed to a team-mate during the same play to allow them to take the solo and go, but it doesn’t always have to be the person who is directly fouled. That will make it difficult to officiate.

There is a general consensus that many teams will make use of this to introduce goalkeepers into the attack and create a 12v11 overload. However, the opposition will have a hard time gaining possession of the possession due to this play pattern. The possession-driven game is something we’ve been trying to remove from our game and I just don’t see how the 12v11 addresses that.

I’ve heard that pre-season challenge matches have been made even more physically demanding by players because of the new version of the game. If that is carried into competitive action, late-game ebbs and flows will be much slower, which is against what the FRC wants.

The GAA might try to accomplish too much at once. We may have missed a trick in Gaelic games by not making significant changes simultaneously to prevent the introduction of numerous radical changes.

The fact that every rule change the FRC proposed was passed at Congress will make it incredibly challenging for the referees, coaches, and players who have known adults who had lived and breathed a different version of the game since they were no age.

It’s important to remember that the National League’s influence on the championship’s seeding is somewhat unfair on the teams because it’s important to remember.

At this point, all of these are just my reservations. It’s a gut feeling. Although I may have reservations about this novel form of Gaelic football, I’m willing to give it my best shot.

Making any predictions for the season without doing so makes no sense in this context.

The National League’s opening weekend is expected to be filled with a lot of excitement, as you can reasonably predict.

As All-Ireland champions, Armagh travel to Salthill in their first game to take on Galway, the team they defeated in the final. We’d typically have enough for one Saturday evening, but adding Tyrone, Derry, and Dublin, Mayo, will likely be enough.

There is no form guide for Tyrone v. Derry. Even with the rules changing, this is a fiery fixture worth watching even though both teams are under new management and no one really knows what to expect.

In terms of Derry, I’ve found the narrative around last season pretty interesting. Derry won the McKenna Cup and a Division One title and got to the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland, but there has been a narrative that it was a ‘ nightmare ‘ championship.

Derry, in my opinion, had a championship that was beyond our expectations. Across the year, it was a decent enough season.

Yes, the championship fell short of the standards and expectations we had set, but there will undoubtedly be a significant effort to improve and make it a success in Paddy Tally’s inaugural season.

Tyrone v. Derry is a fixture that speaks for itself, and there may be some new regulations in place. It’s a big Ulster derby, and on Saturday night, I’m sure Healy Park will have a fun atmosphere.

Who knows, maybe I’ll leave Omagh with a much more positive outlook on ‘ enhanced ‘ Gaelic football. That’s part of what makes it so intriguing.