'Not good enough' – Peter Canavan says GAA must address possession problem

Peter Canavan believes it is inevitable that that the GAA will look to address the growing trend in football that allows possession for possession's sake, something he says is spoiling the game.

The former Tyrone forward was speaking on RTÉ 2fm’s Game On following more scrutiny over teams retaining the ball and taking very few risks with lateral, often short handpasses the order of the day, the most recent example coming from Croke Park on Sunday in Roscommon's draw with Dublin.

Shortly after the half hour mark Roscommon goalkeeper Conor Carroll tapped the kickout to Brian Stack.

What would follow was a move that incorporated 77 passes between Roscommon players – Carroll was involved 19 times – over a period of five and a half minutes.

For a large portion of that time, there was little or no pressure on the man in possession, who often took a safe option with a short hand pass, before the play finally ended with Ciarán Murtagh splitting the posts in injury time to give the Rossies a four-point interval lead.

"It’s not just the Dublin v Roscommon game, this has been a trend in our games these past couple of years," the two-time All-Ireland winner said.

"When teams elect to get a lot of bodies behind the ball, rather than go direct for your score, the traditional route, teams are becoming patient. They are trying to draw the opposition out.

"In some cases it used to be you held on to the ball for a minute, maybe two minutes, but I think we reached a record on Sunday when it was nearly six minutes.

"I get it, it’s part and parcel of the game. It’s a tactic that managers are using, but it’s terrible to watch and spoiling our game as a spectacle.

Speaking on the RTÉ GAA podcast thiis week, former Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice