Éamonn Fitzmaurice: A tough watch - football must stop being a slave to stats
ENTERTAINING CONTEST: Dara Moynihan of Kerry is tackled by Johnny McGrath of Galway during the Allianz Football League Division 1 match at Pearse Stadium in Galway. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Prior to Sunday, much of the football played across the league had disappointed. I was in Castlebar on the first night for Mayo and Galway and enjoyed an entertaining contest brimmed full of intensity. But one would have to be surprised by some of the football we have seen since, particularly bearing in mind the positive route that football, in general, seemed to have taken over the last couple of seasons.
In this Allianz League, many teams went for a model where they deployed an ultra-defensive shape out of possession and relied on counter-attacks and set plays for their scores. What often resulted was long periods of over-and-back possession football as teams guarded against turnovers and being counter-attacked. There was no element of risk in teams' play and scores featuring a couple of kick passes in a row to open up a defence were all but extinct.
