Kieran Shannon: Rush to reward goals is putting the humble point at risk

There was a collective groan last week when news broke of some potential new rule changes for Gaelic football. Leave the game alone and let it breathe. Why fix what has finally been already fixed?

In the new Gaelic football, you'd have to be a Seán O’Shea to take on shots from just inside the two-point arc. They have become inefficient from an analytics perspective. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Whatever about football having had other years that were as thrilling and compelling as 2026 – 1992, 2001, 2004, 2010 and yes, you, 2025, we hear you – never before has it had two such satisfying years back-to-back.

For all the breakthroughs of the early 1990s and the giddy novelty of the backdoor and the new Croke Park in the early 2000s, the game in those days wasn’t either the spectacle or as sporting as the fare 2025 and 2026 between them offered up. In fact, both those elements have gone hand-in-hand. No longer do we have to endure or indulge all those silly shoving matches with jerseys being pulled and tested; with the solo and go, the action and fun never stops.