No easy fix to game's ills after poor league

So, we're finally arriving at the final round of league games. We won't remember the 2023 league fondly. In truth, the standard of football has been poor across the board.

David Clifford's comments after the Roscommon game perfectly summed up where we're at currently.

Teams retreating into packed defences, playing monotonous, lateral, safety-first football. Any forward-looking foot-pass that's not a 60:40 sure thing is being refused, lads are continually opting to turn around and pass it backwards.

Overall, there's been a dearth of high-quality games. We're not getting a lot of goals. Mayo account for 25% of all goals scored in Division 1 - the only pity is we could never manage that when I was playing.

One could argue that's down to the weather conditions or that teams aren't fully fit and are still only feeling their way towards peak form.

However, the fear is that it indicates the shape of what's to come in the championship. Is this what we're going to be in for in the summer ahead?

One would hope not. But taking in the whole football landscape, there's probably only a handful of teams that are unafraid to go for it and play with some attacking flair.

So many games of football get bogged down in long, tedious bouts of low-energy, lateral hand-passing in front of congested defences. I find it hard to watch, to be honest and I'd say the majority of people out there would say the same.

How to change it? It's not an easy fix and I'd be reluctant to tinker with the rules as they stand. We've seen the referees have enough in their heads, trying to apply the rules that currently exist. I'm not a fan of the attacking mark, for instance, which added little to the game.

Saturday evening in the Athletic Grounds was particularly grim.

Arma