Christy O'Connor: New football rules didn't address blight of handpassing 

In an increasing culture of performance analysis, data collection and pattern recognition around the individualised study of GAA players, Ciarán Kilkenny has always been an interesting subject.

Possessions mean very little in the set context of a match unless the wider contribution of those individual possessions are analysed. Yet there was still a fascination around Kilkenny when he was reaching possession numbers previously unheard of.

When he had 53 possessions against Donegal in the 2016 All-Ireland quarter-final, Kilkenny was widely considered to have been the first player to surpass 50 touches in an elite football match. A year later, Kilkenny had 62 possessions in the 2017 All-Ireland semi-final against Tyrone.

There were plenty of big games where Kilkenny failed to score but his spatial awareness, movement, peripheral vision and ability to take on or draw a man before releasing a team-mate made Kilkenny the conductor of Dublin’s dominance during their six-in-a-row run.

Kilkenny was considered football’s ultimate point-guard, especially when the ball passed through his hands so often. And yet, Paudie Clifford took individual possession stats to a whole new level in the All-Ireland final in July when he had the ball in his hands 76 times.

Donegal’s defensive system does hand more possessions to the opposition’s key players outside their defensive line, but Clifford still made his possessions consistently count; as well as scoring 0-3 from play, Clifford assisted another 0-6.

A breakdown of those numbers highlighted how Clifford handpassed the ball 53 times, while he had 14 kickpasses, along with having six shots, while he was also fouled for four frees (with one of those frees arriving after a shot).

Donegal seriously erred by allowing Clifford so many free and handy possessions, but the cynic would also ask how a player could be allowed so much free time to hand-pass the ball so often on such a big stage - particularly under a new set of rules designed to create more 50-50 contests.

FAILED TO ADDRESS

Jim McGuinness’s game-plan was an obvious reason but Clifford’s colossal possession numbers still inflated the debate around one of the key issues that the Football Review Committee failed to address – the proliferation of the handpass.

Despite the hope that the new rules would lead to fewer handpasses and more kickpassing, that didn’t happen. The handpass-to-kickpass ratio climbed from 3:4 to 4:4.

The new rules have been hugely positive but there is still too many long passages of possession football. Much of that is down to teams' tactical approach but the increasing handpassing numbers still underline the need for the game to be rebalanced by promoting more kicking and creating more contests for the ball.

The FRC deliberately stayed away from the handpass at first before looking at restrictions in sandbox games after the championship whereby a team could not play two hand passes in a row.

That did lead to more chaos and more turnovers but the FRC choose not to endorse that rule change. When the committee issued its final report a few weeks back, their recommendation around the handpass related to age grades below U15 where a player who receives a handpass must kick the ball in their next play.

The FRC clearly felt that restrictions imposed around the handpass at inter-county level could see the game descend into more chaos than they would like. 

But it’s still surprising that the committee didn’t address the topic with more than just a long-term view around changing the game’s culture - especially when it has become such a key issue around trying to make the game an even better spectacle.

SOLUTION

“They haven’t fixed the elephant in the room, which is basically the game of Gaelic-ball basketball and low-skilled handpasses completely dominating the game,” said former Laois player Colm Parkinson on his ‘Smaller Fish GAA’ podcast last week. “My solution to this is three handpasses and a kick, but the kick has to go forward.” 

Parkinson outlined his case against a team like Donegal, who – under that proposed rule - would no longer be able to sit in and try to counter-attack into open space. “They have to kick forward,” said Parkinson. “And if they decide to defend with all their players, they won’t have anyone to kick forward to.

“It’s vital that the kick has to go forward. Because if the kick hasn’t to go forward, Donegal just win it back and can just kick it backwards or they can get two or three handpasses and then kick it backwards and keep the handpass sequence going. If the kick has to go forward, it changes this rule completely.” 

It does, especially when it is becoming increasingly difficult to dispossess a player in possession because of how well-conditioned players have become. 

When a player is turned over anymore, it’s usually only when he is surrounded by two of three opposition players.

Having to kick the ball forward more often – especially after a third handpass – would encourage better individualised tackling and more 50-50 contests. That would also incentivise more pressing which would further increase contact.

Despite the positivity around the new rules, too much of the game is still defined by safety and control. The 2024 Armagh-Galway decider produced the least number of turnovers ever seen in an All-Ireland final, just 20. The final back in July had 28 turnovers, but that was still just three more than the 25 turnovers Dublin alone coughed up in the 2023 final.

The wet and slippery conditions were a factor in the high volume of turnovers in that 2023 final, but it added to the excitement and helter-skelter nature of that game.

For all the strides made, football still needs more contests. Because there’s no way a single player should be able to handpass the ball 53 times – mostly unopposed – from 76 possessions in an All-Ireland final.