"If we can break the shackles of the blanket defences, the game will take off, but don't expect the managers to do it because the most effective way to get results at the minute is with a blanket, dropping men back and filling the 45-yard line to your goal to close down the shooting areas."
Whether we’re talking football, hurling or just about any team sport, the biggest game of the season can often be wracked with tension, nerves and caution – Clare and Cork’s epic brawl in this year’s hurling final notwithstanding – and it may be possible no amount of rule changes can combat the fear of losing.
"We are buggers for wringing our wrists at the state of things," McGinley explained. "The tactics of the game has been decided through results. The 'correct’ way to play the game most effectively now and maximise your chance of a result is with an overall defensive structure.
"You may change some kick-outs. You may try and keep a few more men up. You might try and work more in the counter attack. You can alter your shapes or how many men you push forward when you're attacking. But the general base of everything is getting men behind the ball.
"That debate for me is now over and too often we end up with a poorer game than we might have if it was of a more traditional look. If those two teams went man against man across that pitch [on Sunday], I think the result would have been every bit as tight."
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