Former Dublin defender Philly McMahon has highlighted an apparent lack of innovation in the game, claiming that many teams are 'regurgitating' old tactics and pointing to Derry as one of the few genuinely trying out new things.
The eight-time All-Ireland winner has been working as a GAA pundit for BBC TV this season and said most teams throughout the entire country are playing the same way.
The one county he said has been pushing the envelope and trying to do things differently is Ulster champions Derry.
"I sat here in Croke Park last year for the All-Ireland semi-final between Dublin and Kerry," said ex-corner-back McMahon at the launch of EirGrid's eighth season as the official timing partner of the GAA.
"I find it very hard to watch a game because I'm constantly looking at the defence, looking at how they are structured. I want to see something new, something innovative. But I just don't see it.
"I'll give you an example, Armagh, they played Antrim up in the Athletic Grounds. They kicked this ball down the middle and you're like, 'That's the Donegal kick-out'. There's a lot of regurgitating of old things. And that's okay as well, that's good. I like that, but I don't see any team doing anything new or different. The goalkeeper coming out I suppose is a new thing, it works for some teams, doesn't work for others."
McMahon praised back to back Ulster champions Derry for their desire to keep pushing boundaries.
"When you look at all the teams in the country and when you look at the way they set up tactically, there's very few doing anything different, there really isn't," he continued.
"The ones that I've seen doing things differently is probably Derry who have done a couple of things offensively different. Are Mayo doing anything different? Maybe playing (Aidan) O'Shea in a little bit more has had an impact.
"Kerry, I don't see anything different. I don't see Dublin doing anything different. Take the jerseys off most teams and let them play a match and you probably wouldn't know which teams were which because they all play very similarly."
If McMahon was appointed manager of an inter-county team in the morning, he'd implement one tactic straight away.
"I would look at holding players up higher and not getting as defensive," he said.
"Armagh would have done it to Dublin in the League early last year where they would have had their plan to turn them over, hold players up the field, and then get the ball to the link man and get fast ball then into O'Neill.
"Tyrone would have done it as well with McShane a couple of years ago. I think that is going to be the next evolution but, again, it is the same coaches and the same counties moving around and you kind of nearly have to mirror the opposition too because if you are playing a team that has this mass defence set up and they attack, you are going to have to get bodies behind the ball. But it should be up to counties and teams to break that down and change that and be innovative."
McMahon places All-Ireland title holders Kerry, Mayo and Galway in a group of three that he views as All-Ireland favourites. Behind them, in his eyes, are his native Dublin.
He said that Kerry's comprehensive loss to Mayo at the weekend made him reevaluate where the Kingdom are at.
"I would worry about Kerry," said McMahon.
"I would have been one of those people that was like, 'Ah look, the league was a bit of a blip based on them coming back late from last year'. But that's a big scalp Mayo took playing them down there in Kerry, and they convincingly beat them.
"It was one of those games where the brilliance of Clifford and a couple of other players kept it a bit tighter than it should have been but I was impressed by Mayo. I thought they were very good and they showed a bit of steel going to Kerry and taking that first scalp. It was probably on Kevin McStay's agenda to get that first game and that will kick start their whole group stage.
"I just didn't see the fight in Kerry that you would normally see. They just got cut open again, it was the old defensive Kerry you would have seen - gaps everywhere, didn't really deal with O'Shea to an extent in terms of him moving players around because they were gravitating towards him. I just didn't see that fight in Kerry. That's your home ground, you want to as the saying goes 'die with your boots on'."
