Some reservations but Donegal club managers prepared to embrace FRC changes 

With Donegal clubs currently gearing up for the new 2025 domestic campaign, it’s without a doubt a pre-season like no other. 

With the Football Review Committee (FRC) changes set to take hold, a number of clubs in the north west have looked to get ahead of the curve in the Ulster Club League. 

Gaoth Dobhair, Ard an Rátha and MacCumhaills are all involved in the senior provincial competition. Results, their respective bosses explain, aren’t top of the agenda right now. 

Instead, the likes of Ronan Mac Niallais, Damien Devaney and Gary Wilson are mostly focusing on fringe options and getting a handle on what’s a seismic sea change for Gaelic football. 

DonegalLive’s Frank Craig talks to all three to gauge their early opinions on how they anticipate the new rules impacting on club football. 

Ronan Mac Niallais (Gaoth Dobhair) 

The obvious one, like the county games we’re watching right now, is that the goalkeepers are coming out to create that 12 versus 11. 

It’s early days but at club level, it’s going to be so difficult, impossible even, for referees to enforce the ‘three up’. 

From what I can see the only time it’s being spotted is if someone shouts to the referee but, generally, the opposition hear that too and correct it themselves. Maybe that will self-police itself. 

What I’m really liking is the ‘solo and go’ - it’s pretty seamless and speeds up the game. It also reduces the effect of the cynical foul. 

Discipline, in regards to talking back hasn’t been an issue so far and nothing is really happening along the line. 

It’s a pre-season sort of competition so that probably will change as the season progresses no doubt. 

The kickouts are generally contests all the time. Two-pointers have been rare enough so far in our games and maybe this is down to sides trying fringe players; maybe the quality of the shooters aren’t at the level of intercounty. 

Damien Devaney (Ard an Rátha)

So far, I think they’ve been good. I’ve seen the two-pointer work well and it adds some jeopardy if an opportunity is brought back outside the D. 

The rule I can’t see sticking is handing the ball back. It’s just not an instinctive action. Players also seem to be finding it difficult to get out of the way when the opposition decides to ‘tap and go’. 

But that’s a mindset thing that will progress over time and through repetition. But as a general change, the ‘tap and go’ is brilliant. It’s adding real pace to things. 

And the cynical fouling, or slowing teams down, is much less prevalent. The ‘three up/three back’ is working well enough. It takes a little communication. 

The game we played, I thought the refereeing was really good. But I envisage it being very difficult to police when a referee comes on his own to a club game. It will be difficult to keep an eye on. 

Going to places like Towney or Ardara, where you could have a gale-force wind, the kickout could hang up in the air and actually come back inside. It could get quite scrappy at times. 

Gary Wilson (MacCumhaills) 

I’m positive about them. It’s exciting for Donegal club football I think. The ‘three on three’ in the likes of the league especially, will be hard to police as the referee could be on his own.

A way around that, from an administrative point of view, would be for referees to be told to bring their own umpires and maybe as a unit govern that together. 

The days of club people doubling as umpires is definitely now over.  You simply have to have impartiality with this if it’s to work. 

Cathal Boland, who took charge of our game with Four Masters, he was actually mic-ed up to his umpires. It was professional and very impressive. 

The umpires were making the calls on the ‘three up’ and it was instantly relayed whether the referee’s back was to the play or not.

It’s a new set of rules and they’re going to be there so I think we have to embrace them. There is some fine detail too like 20 seconds for a kickout. 

Again, at a club league game, there might only be one ball present at a particular time. The other three could be in the next field over! 

So if there is subjective common sense applied at times like that, then we’ll get used to most of it. What I have noticed is that there are way more opportunities to kick the ball. There is an automatic outlet now when the ball is turned over. 

I also think there is going to be more scope for young lads to come into senior football because of these changes and that’s a real positive. 

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There isn’t going to be the same confined close contacts. Teams will look to put out their best ‘footballers’ as opposed to spoilers. Ultimately, if that’s where we get to then this is a good thing. 

As a spectator and even a player, you want to see a club’s best forward going up against another side’s best attacker, same with midfielders and so on. 

With time, this will settle in and we’ll get some sort of universal handle on it. We’re just going to have to be patient. 

Once upon a time managers would be telling their teams to win ten or 11 of the individual battles and you’ll win the war. Maybe we’ll get back to something resembling that. That would be brilliant.