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Anyone know if there are any specific regulations about what sort of hand wrapping/wrist support someone can wear in a game?

I know there is a specific rule that says footballers aren't allowed wear a helmet.

I don't recall seeing anything specific about hand wrapping/wrist support - my instinct is it's left to the referee's discretion with the primary focus being player safety (now I'm trying to think of the Clare hurler who when coming back from an injury - something shoulder related I think bandaged up the opposite side so the opposition would think that was the weak shoulder and focus on that (back in the 90s or 00s) I don't think any ref would let someone play with a hard plaster cast or something like that. I'd say cloth bandaging/soft wraps would be okay but anything with any kind of hard support wouldn't be allowed based on the danger it could cause if broke and the fact that if someone has a hard support they probably shouldn't be playing. If you want to check beforehand (possibly more risky than saying nothing and showing up and seeing if the ref says anything) maybe send an email to the county's referee administrator?

Also as long as there wasn't anything political or with advertising on it I'd say it should be okay.

Will Omagh be fit for a double header on Saturday evening? There's been a lot of rain over the last few weeks.

With it being the live RTE game would there be issues with extra time etc in the Intermediate game?

Presume the intermediate game is throwing in early enough to allow for any potential extra-time ?

That time of year again when the annual provisional league fixtures doing the rounds.

Both Kobe Mcdonald and Ben Murphy confirmed as going to Oz

https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2025/1103/1541825-mcdonald-joins-afl-side-st-kilda/

Someone was saying that Kerry "sorted out" Clifford and honestly I doubt they did all that much if anything - I doubt there's many who would consider secondary teaching a cushy number in this day and age (I say this as someone who wouldn't last 5 minutes in a classroom) especially compared to some or the more traditional cushy numbers I've heard about like sales reps who woold only have a handful of actual hours a week or lads in some of the banks who would have been spending a lot of their time entertaining clients.

Combine that with the fact that Kerry have lost a number of players to Oz since the rumours of Clifford going were around it just doesn't seem to make sense to me - I know Clifford is exceptional but if they were able to do something for him surely they would be able to do similar for other talented prospects?

The strongest rumours (in terms of possibly being true) I heard about a player being sorted out in terms of not going to OZ were McShane and given he ended up in a job with Keystone (a Tyrone GAA sponsor) and he spoke out about how getting the job offer was a significant factor in him not signing the contract in Oz, it's not that surprising that people are suspect about it.

The big thing for me is that the money on offer in OZ is of such a level (especially once a player goes beyond the initial rookie contract) is that it's very hard to see even the deepest pockets managing to stump up anything similar in terms of a cash amount.

[A Maximum of 6 substitutes allowed during second half of a given game]

Back for 2026 with a kind of league format with all teams guaranteed to get three games. 


Round 1 3rd/4th January

Sligo v Mayo

Galway v London

Roscommon v Leitrim

Round 2 9th/10th January

Leitrim v Galway

London v Sligo

Mayo v Roscommon

After 2 rounds the following will be the Finals situation:

17th /18th January 2026

Top 2 teams FBD Cup Final

3rd & 4th teams Shield Final

5th & 6th teams Plate Final



Competition Regulations

Panel of 26 Players
All Players are allowed play, although once substituted a player shall not be allowed to return to the game (Unless a Blood Sub or Head Injury Sub)
A Maximum of 6 substitutes allowed during second half of a given game

Should really have a limited number of substiution windows - allow unlimited subs at ht and subs allowed only at 3 times throught the match for each team (Unless a Blood Sub or Head Injury Sub or other clear injury)

There's nothing worse than constant subs to completely kill stone dead the momentum of a game especially pre-season or challenge games, which can often just peter out.

I think the international rules is a lot less popular in counties who have "lost" a few players to Oz - was talking to a Mayoman who was saying he hopes the Mayo players have nothing to do with it - between Oisin Mullins, the Hanleys and the rumour that Kobe will be heading there before too long his attitude was that any Aussies who come sniffing around should be thrown in the Atlantic and the GAA is mad to be any way friendly to them. He did make the point that the way other sports specifically soccer and rugby are treated by GAA officaldom seems to be almost at the other end of the scale compared to the welcome mat rolled out for the Aussies - he was of the opinion that the fact that none of the other sports were offering the potential for free junkets to GAA officials like the Aussie Rules were doing had a lot to do with the difference in approach.

There's definitely been a fair few comments from some of the Kerry GAA media folk talking down the game - this is a piece in the Examiner from John O'Keeffe today (which is prehaps no surprise as his club are supposedly losing a seriously promising youngster to Brisbane in the next few weeks.

Trying to blame bigotry as the main cause for the state of Casement as opposed to rank incompetence is just delusion of the highest order.

From what I can see there has been just the standard normal totally usual background level of bigotry since the start of this project as could have been predicted and expected from day one from that side of the house.

Can't help feel it suits a lot of people involved in the project to spread the notion that the project is mired in stasis on bigotry as opposed to facing up to their own mistakes.

https://monaghan.ie/major-funding-secured-for-st-tiarnachs-quarter-regeneration-project-in-clones/

Statement from Monaghan County Council

a strategic initiative to redevelop St. Tiarnach's Park and revitalise the surrounding area in Clones. This major investment will support the development of a masterplan for the overall regeneration and kickstart the design phase for a multi-purpose Community Hub at the heart of the town, alongside public realm upgrades at the iconic stadium.

The new hub will be a vibrant, multi-use space designed to serve the needs of community groups and social enterprises, while also offering office and meeting spaces, event and training areas, and access to multimedia and digital resources. This ambitious project builds on Clones' unique assets, including its iconic GAA stadium, the state-of-the-art athletics facilities at the Peace Link, the Ulster Canal, and its strategic border location. It aims to enhance the town and surrounding area, promote Clones as a Centre of Excellence for Sport, create employment opportunities, and stimulate the local economy. Crucially, the initiative will also support the future development of Clones GAA, reinforcing its role as a cornerstone of community life and sporting excellence.

https://clones.gaa.ie/2025/10/11/st-tiarnachs-quarter-regeneration-project-2/

This major investment will kickstart the design phase for a Multi-purpose Community Hub at the heart of Clones, alongside public realm upgrades at our iconic home and County Grounds, St. Tiarnach's Park.

The new hub will be a vibrant, multi-use space featuring:
✅ Facilities for community groups and social enterprises
✅ Office and meeting spaces
✅ Event and training areas
✅ Multimedia and digital resources

Based on this is looks like some offices and some cosmetic stuff around the outside areas being freshened up.

No mention of parking or sorting out the traffic situation so I don't know how much of a difference this is going to make to the match day experience. The bit where they say "This major investment will support the development of a masterplan for the overall regeneration" sounds like there might be some money for looking at an overall development of the stadium down the road. If I had to guess I'd say the powers that be are holding off on doing anything major in the way of the redeveloping the stadium until the Casement planning permission lapses.

So it looks like while the Casement project is pretty much just waiting for the planning permission to expire there it's also managing to delay work at Clones as well. Omnishambles.

Recent hurling match - time was almost up and free was awarded to team 1 point down.
Free was taken and hit post but ref blew whistle in error thinking ball had gone dead.
Referee gave a retake due to his error and team equalised to bring game to extra time and subsequently won.
Supporters and mentors on team who subsequently lost were calling for the ball to be thrown in on the 21.
Is there a specific rule in the GAA rule book on this or what was the correct course of action?

Jesus.. I wouldn't like to be trying to answer that and I'm a ref!

Ref prematurely blew whistle!

He genuinely made a mistake, replayed the free.. If a free for instance hits a physio on the pitch its replayed, same as hitting the ref, so there is a rule for that. Hitting the upright  and before the ball was played on the ground he blew, so there was no aftermath of the resulting ball being played, so there is no idea how that would have played out.

Having a throw in at the 21 isn't the fix either or in the rules I don't think. So by admitting the mistake, free replayed you have to look at it like this, if it was your team on the end of that, which way would you like it?

No specific rule that I can think of.

Yuu'd definitely think a throw ball on the 21 would have been the fairer decision overall as opposed to getting a 2nd chance to take the free.

It would have come closer to replicating the state of the game (ball coming back off the post) than having a 2nd chance at the free.

Hasn't been a peep from Jarlath and the lads in the Ulster Council on Casement in a long while now.

Really doing nothing to kill the notion that they are just sitting on their hands waiting for the planning permission for Casement to expire so they can "blame" that as opposed to taking responsibility for their own incompetence.

He's representing his members.
The 4 small Counties are pissed off with the MC.
I wonder did the other 3 Provinces put pressure on to stop Munster Finalists leap frogging higher League teams?

The Munster Council would have told the other 3 Provinces to take a running jump if any of the other Councils had tried to put any pressure on. T

The fact that the Limerick Munster Council delegate went against the wishes of the Limerick team and management and was so blatantly bought off with promises of extra funds for coaching definitely helped footballers from the 4 counties feel like they are getting screwed over.

Player of the Year:

David Cliffford (Kerry)
Joe O'Connor (Kerry)
Michael Murphy (Donegal)

Can't believe Paudie Clifford not there though obviously it's a shoe-in for David.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2025/0925/1535201-donegal-top-kerry-in-football-all-star-nomination-tally/

Probably missing a good bit of the year didn't help Paudie, he was better than Murphy but they were never going to leave Murphy off it. Joe O'Connor would get my vote but Clifford will win it.

Paudie Clifford had a brilliant final but he was average against Tyrone and only played the 2nd half against Armagh (good impact). Injured for most of Championship and got a red card against Cork which almost and probably should have cost them the game - definitely not enough for a Player of the Year nomination. I wouldn't have him as a shoe in for an All Star either

Can understand why Paudie didn't make it but Murphy being nominated based on his performances this year has to be up there with amongst the worst decisions in a long while.

Normally you'd say any of POTY nominations are all automatic All Stars.

The majority of the people I've talked to about the All Stars have been saying that Murphy is likely to get an All Star because he was nominated for the POTY nomination as opposed to actually being worth one.

It's a big thing cause the other team know u need a no of 2pts, u not close the gap on single scores and camp out around that line preventing them scores!

Perhaps. But it would seem the key to creating 2 points opportunities is to reduce your focus on getting them. This is what prevents your opponents camping out around the line.

Yup teams need to go for blooming goals and the 2 pt shots will open up in the chaos that arises.

Have ye been watching games at all lads?

Teams all over the country have plans in place for defending two pointers and adjusting the balance of defending goal chances versus defending two pointers depending on the scoreline and the weather conditions and have had for months now.

It's pretty standard to see teams put extra effort (and manpower) into defending two pointers when playing against the wind.

I do think teams who are chasing games with the wind need to get better at creating goal chances when chasing a game because it's far too common to see lads just take the easy/lazy option of throwing the leg at every and all possible two-pointers.

Another thing is that it's so much easier to defend two pointers against a team who only have a handful of two pointer scorers. Saw a club game a few weeks back where a lad who alway played as corner-back was given a job out the field marking the opposition's main two-point shooter. Shut him down completely. Wouldn't be surprised if this type of marking job became a lot more common in the foreseeable.

Coaches really need to get working on increasing the ability and number of two-pointer shooters on a team.
They also need to work on creating goal chances when a team has pushed ou and is agressively concentrating on defending the two-point arc.

Only taken a very quick scan through the report but the data provided in it, absolutely destroys the notion that some on here were trying to convey that there was anything close to a 50/50 split in terms of the popularity of the new rules.

The overwhelming positive responses in relation to playing, coaching and reffing at club level completely expose those who said the rules would be unworkable or a nightmare at club level as being completely wrong.

The section in the FRC Report on the difference in cards over the course of the season is stark.

I knew from watching games discipline had improved drastically but this is absolutely super stuff.

A 68% reduction in straight reds, a 55% reduction in two card reds, a 33% reduction in yellows, a 31% reduction in blacks under the new rules.

Hurling by comparison is just a clusterfuck in terms of the rules - it's a shame to see the state of the game currently where the dirtiest nastiest individuals get away with so much cheating and the honest clean players get disadvantaged.