Peter Keane: Too many changes have turned Gaelic football into 'new game'

Too many changes, too fast. So goes Peter Keane’s verdict of the “new game” of Gaelic football created by the Football Review Committee and endorsed by Special Congress.

In his first interview since taking up the Banner reins, the former Kerry boss said he is not convinced that such radical change was required. And he is absolutely certain that such radical change all at once was not preferable.

“It is a new game, I don't think there is any other way of describing it,” Keane told Clare FM.

“Even though there are seven or eight rule changes, there are somewhere in the mid-40s of different actual rule changes to facilitate them. I think there are too many changes, to be honest. I think we've made a new game out of it. I think we've done too much, too fast. But we are stuck with them now, so we will only have to get on with them.

“The general consensus is that it did need something radical. Again, I am not so sure about the word radical, whether it was to be required. There were still plenty of good games.

“I saw Dublin-Galway last year, a very good game. Galway-Donegal in the All-Ireland semi-final was certainly no bad game. I saw plenty of club games in Kerry this year and there was a lot of good football played. It is hard to say there was a lot of change required.”

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When teasing through the headline alterations, Keane said he doesn’t envisage the three-up rule delivering three man-on-man contests as managers and coaches will be slow to leave their defenders without some semblance of cover.

“This thing of three up, people are just assuming there will only be three guys marking them and that there will be acres of ground there. I am not so sure it will be left as simple as that. Coaches won’t leave three defenders isolated against three forwards.”

Where he did sound a positive tone was for the tweak at throw-in time where just one midfielder on either side will contest the opening exchange.

“I like the idea of two guys in for the throw-in because I think there was a lot of hoofing and shuffling and rooting and tearing went on. There was a lot of fouls going on, fouls that were probably being left go, so I don't think that is a bad move.”

Where the FRC was charged with developing a more spectator-friendly game, managers have no such responsibility in that department. In as much as the new rules will allow, the men on the sideline will continue to be shaped and led by what they have at their disposal. Chaos and rave reviews are not the currencies concerning them. Keane is no outlier in that regard.

“I'd like to play an attractive game, if you can,” he continued. “It depends on your raw materials. If you've good forwards, you want to create space for them and you want them to develop as the game goes on. But if you don't have the forwards, then you have got to come up with something else.

“By and large, most managers don't overly worry about a spectacle, but at the same time, we do get involved because we love the game and you are anxious to see quality players show their skills.”

Clare opened their 2025 campaign with a 2-14 to 1-10 challenge game win over neighbours Limerick at Askeaton last Saturday. The new Banner boss would prefer if their January diary had McGrath Cup fixtures built in, as opposed to travelling the less certain challenge game circuit.

The GAA, he insisted, missed two tricks by suspending the pre-season competitions in this year of change.

“They missed an opportunity for the counties to get a hold of the rules and get used to them, but equally they missed the financial aspect of it because there would have been a great interest by the public, club players, club managers, coaches, and everybody involved to get out and go and pay at the gate to witness those games.”

Three years after his three-year Kerry tenure came to a halt, Keane said the Clare opportunity “came out of the blue”.

“Things happen and you just go at it. One of the things I have always felt about Clare, and this is going back a long time, is that they have always had footballers. And I still believe they have footballers. Maybe it is just a question of whether you can get all of those footballers singing and playing at the same time.

“Obviously we have got a few fellas back (Darren O’Neill, Keelan Sexton, and Eoin Cleary), but the guys that got experience last year will be further down the road as well.”

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