Four-point goal binned as counties lose McKenna Cup vote

The proposed new football rules were trialled to mixed reviews during last weekend's Interprovincial Championship at Croke Park

The GAA's Central Council has removed the four-point goal and 45s counting for two points from the new proposed football rules that will be voted on at a Special Congress next month.

After some confusion, the GAA also announced that a motion to restore the January pre-season football competitions, which include the Dr McKenna Cup in Ulster, had been defeated.

RTE Sport had earlier reported that a decision on the motion had initially been delayed at Saturday afternoon's meeting, with Central Council delegates instead being asked to vote on it electronically.

A GAA statement which arrived shortly after 20:30 BST on Saturday evening stated: "A proposal to rescind the motion to postpone the January pre-season competitions for 2025 was defeated" but didn't given any further detail.

Further tweaks to the proposed playing rules include an orange flag being waved to signal a two-point score from outside the new 40-metre arc.

In addition, under the new proposed rules, deliberately holding up an opposing player will be a black card offence while goalkeepers receiving a pass outside of the agreed rules will see a free awarded from where the keeper received the ball.

All the other proposed new rules trialled during last weekend's Interprovincial Championship at Croke Park will go forward to the Special Congress on 30 November when a decision will be taken on whether to adopt them for the 2025 season.

The Central Council decided last month that the pre-season competitions would be suspended for 2025 but this led to disquiet both in Ulster and Connacht provincial councils over concerns of how this would affect their revenue streams.

Cavan and Wicklow put forward motions to the Central Council meeting calling for last month's decision to be reversed in order to further bed in the new rules in the New Year.

However, the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) reacted to this by saying that a rowing back would mean that the inter-county squads return-to-play date would have to be moved forward from 7 December to 16 November.

After experiencing the new rules in operation last weekend, a number of high-profile players expressed misgivings about the four-point goal, arguing that it could lead to games being effectively over not long after the throw-in.

Aidan O'Shea, Aidan Forker and Rian O'Neill were among players who spoke against the rule.

There wasn't as much comment about converted 45s also counting for two points amid the new 40-metre arc that has been proposed.

However the Jim Gavin-led Football Review Committee, which includes high-profile people such as Malachy O'Rourke, James Horan and Michael Murphy, has opted to remove that from the proposed new rules that will be adjudicated on next month.

All the other new rules, including the requirement for goalkeepers to kick outside the 40-metre arc and teams being forced to keep at least three outfield players in both halves at all teams will go before the Special Congress.