Kevin O'Donovan welcomes football changes but laments lack of four-point goal

Cork County Board secretary/CEO ]Kevin O’Donovan believes that the decision not to press ahead with four-point goals in Gaelic football may prove to be a mistake.

In his annual report for next Tuesday night’s county convention, O’Donovan broadly welcomes the changes proposed by the Football Review Committee, which were passed at a special Congress last weekend.

“While last year’s annual report had much to say about the state of Gaelic football, it is fair to say that significant progress has been seen in the interim,” O’Donovan writes.

“A visionary appointment by the Uachtarán, followed with a laser focus and layered communications approach by those appointed, has seen a giant leap forward at the recent Special Congress. While the proof will be in the eating over the next twelve months, it’s hard to see things unravel so much so that we won’t see a major improvement by year end.

“Indeed, one wonders as to the benefits that would accrue if a similar, relentless focus was brought to bear on other issues of similar importance such as integration, infrastructure and amateur status. What was learned over the last few months is that a visionary approach combined with a corresponding attention to detail was enough to provoke the masses into engagement. More of the same please.

“Perhaps silently, we continue to mourn the loss of the potential four-point goal that didn’t make it to Congress. A minor quibble, of course, but it may have brought the balance pursued by the committee originally in terms of one-point, two-point and four-point scores. And perhaps even more silently, we wonder if the ‘hands off our hurling’ devotees would have then considered a four-point goal in the sister code. 

"Did the iconic scores by Robert Downey and Tony Kelly in Croke Park in July really only merit three points each in a game that now regularly sees between 50 and 60 one-pointers? Was it not refreshing to see the Cork hurlers put their own value on goal scoring this year?” 

In addition, O’Donovan is of the view that rules around cynical play that are set to be introduced in football for 2025 may be worth examining in terms of being utilised in hurling too.

“In fear of final damnation, we humbly suggest that the experimental rules in relation to dissent and cynical play be immediately adopted for hurling, if passed.

“Yes, they are different games, but it’s the same players and the same officials, with usually the same motives.” Recently, a poll of 800 club players in Cork showed widespread support for the split-season and O’Donovan underlined the significance of this – while at the same time suggesting that the inter-county championship system can be improved.

“Significant space has been dedicated in previous reports to our views on the split season,” he writes.

“Suffice to say that the positivity expressed by inter-county players in terms of the certainty and closure it provides is now clearly matched by the masses who line out at club level.

“A recent survey of Cork club players playing at the top five grades in both hurling and football indicated that only a tiny percentage were not generally in favour of the split season. Not what one would think if confined to surfing the airwaves or just drawn to the bright lights of TV games.

“And we promise not to mention ‘proposal B’ again this year, other than to state the obvious that calendar and format are two different things. While we may have solved the former with the split season, the latter requires further attention.

“Progressive, meritocracy usually works. Graded, decoupled competitions guarantee this.”