Eight National Football League observations: Paul Geaney content to mix it both ways for Kerry

Last weekend every Division 1 team that was leading at half-time went on to win.

Kerry, Dublin, Tyrone and Mayo made the most of their advantage at the interval. This is the first time that has happened in 2025.

Of the 95 league games so far this year, in 61 the side that was winning at half-time went on to triumph. Curiously, Division 3 has witnessed the fewest comebacks. Just five matches saw a county recover from a half-time deficit to secure a positive result.

Half-time adjustments are hard. Elite sport is a highly pressurised environment where long-term investments usually trump short-term corrections. There has been extensive research on good practice, with the likes of Eamon Devlin producing valuable research into maximising half-time.

The company he set up has worked with the likes of Real Madrid, Brisbane Lions and Racing 92. The focus of his original dissertation was Gaelic football.

The turnaround is about more than the tactical, there are obvious physical and psychological elements as well. Still, let’s talk tactics. What should a manager prioritise at half-time? How do they know what needs fixing? Much of this will be steered by their analyst.

A look under this hood reveals several interdependent cogs and the numerous ways half-time changes can go wrong. In Croke Park, for example, it is all about the elevator pitch.

An elevator pitch is a concise and persuasive description, a story in a few sentences. Entrepreneurs, screenwriters and authors often spend hours perfecting a short summary of their big idea. Don’t waste your one shot.

At the back of the Hogan Stand are two small booths, side-by-side. They are HQ’s stat boxes. Contained, cramped, often disregarded by passersby. It is a small room with a TV monitor, some sockets and a desk.

An annual goal is to start out the day analysing a final from that box and end it on the pitch looking back up as your team lift a cup in front of it.

The typical stadium policy is to keep patrons and team members separated as much as possible, so members of a county backroom team cannot access the stats box by walking up the steps beside the tunnel. Instead, they have to use the elevator, riding up to the premium level and entering there.

What this means is that as half-time approaches, they will monitor key metrics and identify a select few things that need to be targeted. They can then perfect their pitch as they ride back down to the dressing room and race to inform management of their observations.

It should be said teams don’t have to use the box. Some rely solely on radio. But others convene first while players catch their breath. Less is more, there is a need for the message and language to be simple.

So an analyst might pick out three things.

Observation number one: The opposition might have had 12 kickouts, five short and seven long. They were able to score from all five short, but only retained two long for a single point. We have an advantage in midfield.

Observation number two: Their centre-back might be dropping off to sweep back, but he is occupying the left side of the defence. They are doing that because all our kickers are right-footed and repeatedly attacking the same wing. It means our star inside forward is now cut off.

Observation number three: Their goalkeeper has a signal. Three times he raised his hands over his head. On each occasion, the middle zone cleared out to create space for their centre forward to come and catch it.

The message: Press their kickout. Bring on John Smith (our left-footed sub). Someone sidle up to our centre back and tell him, when that signals goes up, the ball is coming to him.

This, if it wasn’t already blindingly obvious, is a minimal and limited breakdown of what can be a complicated process. The number of relevant factors are never-ending.

How should we press? Does the manager have enough trust in his backroom to accept the suggestions without hearing why? What about injuries? Some managers don’t want any data. Some players would prefer to be left alone too. There are teams who deliver the message in a direct way, such as video.

And that is before the players themselves have to go and attempt to execute it.

Here are eight observations from the National Football League.

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Geaney content to mix it both ways

Kerry gave an awesome kicking display in Tralee last Saturday, but stalwart Paul Geaney stressed post-match it can’t always be that way.

“It is probably unrealistic to think you will get that every day,” he said.

“You get patches and spells of that. I’m sure that some coaches out there will figure out how to slow it down and stop it, which happened a little in the second half. We still managed to work different scores, put it that way. We can’t rely on quick foot pass. It is nice to see it when it happens but we can’t rely on it.”

Later the Dingle star was asked about the new rules. He was keen to make a point. All this talk of up front. What about the back? Kerry have conceded the fewest goals in the league, tied with Galway and Donegal. Only Mayo have conceded fewer shots on goal per game.

“They are skewed towards forward play. That is very entertaining for a spectator and very enjoyable as a forward, or any player who likes to attack the game,” Geaney said.

“But on the flip side, we had some great defending too. We haven’t conceded too many goal chances, no goal tonight, our backs were well able to step up and not concede those chances.

"We scored a nice few goals so far in the league and have been good with not conceding them as well.”

The every minute men

And then there were 16. Donegal’s recent squad rotations ensure they are the only Division 1 team without a player who has played every minute in the league so far.

Unsurprisingly, the current bottom two have the highest number of players who have played every minute. Four players from Tyrone and Derry have played all six rounds.

For Tyrone they are Niall Morgan, Niall Devlin, Aidan Clarke and Brian Kennedy. Derry’s four are Conor Doherty, Ethan Doherty, Shane McGuigan and Conor Glass.

Dublin’s Brian Howard, Galway’s Johnny McGrath and Armagh’s Barry McCambridge are their counties sole representatives.

Mayo have two, goalkeeper Colm Reape and Enda Hession.

Kerry has three: Shane Ryan, Jason Foley and Paudie Clifford.

Derry shooters can’t compensate for a poor defence

Last Sunday Derry’s opponents had more shots than them. Again. No D1 team has averaged fewer shots than Paddy Tally’s side. In Celtic Park they scored 1-3-11 from 28 shots. Mayo had 34.

This is about more than a reliance on star forward Shane McGuigan. He has scored 1-33, 1-11 from play, but Conor Glass has kicked an impressive 3-12 (all from play except one 45).

Lachlan Murray and Paul Cassidy have both had 18 shots. Their low output is particularly damaging because of what is happening at the other end. Derry have scored six goals, the third highest in the league, but conceded 14.

The curious case of the forgotten motion

In October 2024, a large press briefing took place in Croke Park. The entire Football Review Committee (FRC) came and spoke. An interim report was produced outlining the widespread change that had been proposed for Gaelic football.

They also pitched the motions that would be voted on by Special Congress, including motion 30 and 31. Then they disappeared.

Following briefings by the GAA Medical, Scientific and Welfare Committee (MSWC), the FRC wanted formal recognition in rule to behaviours involving either intentional or unintentional head on head, shoulder on head or elbow on head contact in any tackle attempt, including any form of neck restraint or interference with the neck and throat area.

This motion was not voted on at November’s Special Congress. As it turns out, the Standing Committee on Playing Rules and the MSWC decided against its inclusion post-interim report.

The original proposal was that these infractions would be added to the current Category III infraction, “to behave in any way which is dangerous to an opponent.” The issue of head contact did come up when Galway’s Matthew Tierney was shown a straight red card for a shoulder on Donegal’s Hugh McFadden.

Could king Con be a little more selfish?

For the third game in a row, Con O’Callaghan kicked four points for Dublin. The Cuala All-Ireland winner has also created seven points in his last two.

Just before half-time against Galway, he collected the ball under the Hogan Stand and burned past Daniel O’Flaherty. Connor Gleeson came on to meet him and rather than go for goal, O’Callaghan squared to Cormac Costello.

By the time Dublin shot for goal, there were four Galway defenders in the way. The ball rebounded out for a 45 and Costello dropped it short.

Stretched Leitrim

They needed total alignment. Last season, Andy Moran was manager of Leitrim and the Leitrim 20s. A year previous, Benny Brendan Guckian, father of panellist Ben, had been in charge but there were challenges.

During the U20 championship, Moran made the call to start two seniors for a historic U20 win over Mayo. At the time the rulebook meant they could not play in the senior Connacht championship tie against Mayo. Leitrim had a matchday squad of 22 for that fixture and went down by nine points.

“If it didn’t work, I’d be the world’s worst,” Moran told Mid West radio after that Mayo victory.

“I did the opposite to Ben Guckian’s dad, Benny, last year with Barry McNulty when we went to New York. I’m not sure if it was the right move, if I am being honest.

"The reason we took both teams this year was to have control of the whole structure. We had Barry and Jack (Foley), in fairness for the U20s, we had them for the whole National League. They played every minute of every game.”

Leitrim conceded their Division 3 fixture against Fermanagh last week due to an injury crisis and the current predicament with their U20s. Right now, there are different managements in place for both teams.

Down’s Steven Poacher has a ticket that includes former Carlow footballer Daniel St Ledger, Fermanagh’s Ryan Jones and Donegal’s Athony McGrath. Barry McWeeney, Moran’s righthand man in 2024, is over the U20s.

“ We have six U-20s players respecting their Connacht Championship match on Wednesday night and they weren’t available to play on Sunday,” Poacher told the Indo Sport podcast on Sunday. “That news came on us very late on Friday.”

Armagh’s kickout problem

In 2024, Blaine Hughes’ ability to work a short kickout was such that both Galway and Kerry conceded kickouts against him in Croke Park.

Armagh retained 89% of their kickouts last year. On Saturday it was 57%.

The All-Ireland champions overwhelmingly went short last year. Of their 30 kickouts against Kerry last Saturday, they went short with 8 (if you include when Hughes took too long and was penalised by referee Conor Lane).

In total, they conceded 1-4 from their own short kickout.

Limerick drive on (with a little luck)

It was a record that was starting to make headlines. Limerick were 17 league games without a win. In 2022, they were promoted to Division 2. They then lost all seven games in 2023 and suffered another relegation in 2024. 2025 started with a draw and a loss.

Since then, Jimmy Lee’s side are undefeated. They are currently on course for promotion to Division 3 after several impressive performances. They also benefited from a close call on Sunday.

A last-gasp James Naughton free rescued a draw in Aughrim. Limerick now just have to beat Waterford to go up. The manner of that last-minute free evidently irked Wicklow boss Oisín McConville, who told the BBC Social podcast it was the rule that annoys him most.

One of the recent FRC adjustments concerned the kickout mark. A player who takes a kickout mark may play on immediately. If they do, they can’t be challenged within four metres of the position from where the mark is made.

If the player is challenged, it is a 50m free – up to the opponent’s 13m line. (The previous rule was a free from the point of the challenge.) In the first half last weekend, Wicklow appeared to claim a kickout mark.

Limerick tackled and were penalised. The ball was brought from just inside the Wicklow half to outside the Limerick 45m. Wicklow’s management could be heard instructing Kevin Quinn to have a go. He missed.

One point down in the second half, Limerick claimed a Wicklow kickout just inside the 65m line. He was tackled and a free was awarded. At first, the referee put the foam down outside the arc. Limerick questioned it and the free was move in front of goal for Naughton to tap over.

The final whistle sounded immediately after.

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