Identity crisis: Why has Gaelic football become hard to watch?

Much of the beauty of the modern game is tied up in the tactical complexities and the nuanced problem-solving required for teams to be successful. Yet the majority of the viewing public only see the spectacle in black and white terms; they’re either entertained or they aren’t.

Connaire Mackin of Armagh gathers possession ahead of team-mates and Monaghan players, as referee Barry Cassidy looks on, during the Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup match. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

When Dinny Allen worked in the bank, a colleague once made a prediction which proved very prescient. He told Allen that there would come a time when the commercial branch manager would be pushed aside and the accountants would come in and run the show.

“I sometimes feel,” said Allen in an interview in the Irish Examiner last year “that Gaelic football has gone that way.”