Quirke: Football needs to find a balance between attack and defence

Kerry selector Mike Quirke says that the GAA needs to do something to make football less defensive, but that major rule changes aren't the answer.

The former Laois manager, speaking on RTÉ's Sunday Sport, suggested that a defensive mindset has taken over the game which has made it less appealing to watch.

Kilmacud Crokes defeated Éire Óg in the Leinster football championship on Saturday evening in a relatively low scoring, and poorly attended, game at Netwatch Cullen Park.

This followed on from a smaller than usual crowd at the Cork football final last month and Quirke says that more needs to be done to facilitate attacking football.

"There's probably rule tweaks," he said when asked what needs to change.

"As adverse as I am to changing the rules of the game constantly, because we seem to be doing that a little too often. The biggest problem with Gaelic football is the fact that you can defend with 15 men inside a very small space inside your 45.

"Everybody is trying to come up with ways to increase teams' opportunity to score but the biggest obstacle is the amount of people in a small space.

"I'm not sure how you're going to do that outside of becoming a little bit more offensive minded and really working on the offensive side of your game. As opposed to getting your house in order and getting everybody behind the ball and working on counter attacking football.

"It's a trend and it's going to take a bit of coaching and a lot of time to break it down and become a little bit more offensive minded. But that's what we want to see, goals and scores, attacking stuff that we all came to watch."

While more scores might make the games more exiting, Quirke warns against throwing the baby out with the bath water.

"There's a balance as well;