Gaelic Football games to get longer as refs told stop clock during substitutions

The common “at least two minutes of additional time” refrain may well be at an end in top level Gaelic football going by the amount of injury-time played in the first round of the Allianz League.

After it was announced last week that substitutions would now be considered official stoppages by referees, the average amount of second half additional time per game in Division 1 alone was almost four minutes.

Both national football and hurling match officials have been directed to allow roughly 20 seconds per substitution, the same for players who have to travel up the field to take frees, 45s and 65s and half a minute for the use of Hawk-Eye in Croke Park.

In Saturday’s Dublin-Kerry game in GAA HQ, Eddie Kinsella signalled for four minutes of additional time. Notwithstanding other incidental and deliberate stoppages, it roughly tallied with the 12 second half replacements made by the teams (Kerry made a double substitution in the 53rd minute).

In Down’s meeting with Donegal in Newry, three minutes were added on, which was consistent with the nine second-half personnel changes.

In Páirc Uí Rinn where Cork hosted Mayo on Sunday, referee Maurice Deegan allowed for five further minutes of play at the end.

It reflected the time taken up treating Eoin Cadogan and Lee Keegan following their nasty head collision as well as the 11 substitutes, two of which came as a double exchange for Cork in the 63rd minute.

While in Kiltoom, where Conor McManus swooped in injury-time to score a goal that swung the game in Monaghan’s favour against Roscommon, there were three more minutes supplied following six second half substitutions.

It is hoped by ordering referees to stop the clock for substitutions, they will no longer be used by teams to waste time. In the aftermath of last year’s U21 All-Ireland FC final, it was claimed Tyrone were purposefully slow in making two substitutions in the final three minutes of normal time so as to whittle down the time remaining.

Time-wasting is punishable by rule in the form of a throw-in but as substitutes did not previously constitute an incidental stoppage they did not fall into the category.

In the last four games of the 2015 All-Ireland championship — final, Kerry-Tyrone semi-final, Dublin-Mayo semi-final draw and replay, there was an average of just under 10 second half substitutions, which would now work out at over three additional minutes.

Four minutes were allocated by David Coldrick in last year’s Dublin-Kerry final due to a series of stoppages in the last quarter.

With one less substitute available to hurling managers, there isn’t expected to be as big an increase in game duration in Saturday’s All-Ireland club semi-finals or the start of the Allianz Hurling League the following weekend.