Four-point goals could “increase entertainment levels” in hurling and football says Dublin CEO

"The aim is simple - primarily to encourage attacking play and then perhaps, as a by-product, to increase entertainment levels."

Dublin CEO John Costello has revealed in his annual report that the introduction of four-point goals, could make the game more entertaining. His argument is based primarily on Limerick's dominance in hurling, and the fact that they rack up very high numbers with points, but very few in terms of goals. Although based around hurling, Costello believes that football could also benefit from this rule change.

"Back in the days of Mackey and Ring, and even DJ and the Dooley's, inter-county hurling teams weren’t racking up 30-plus points," said Costello, writing in his annual report. "More than likely 20 would be a struggle. All that has changed. Now the all-conquering Limerick hurlers are obvious trailblazers when it comes to outrageous point tallies.

"To be clear, this is not meant as a slight in any way on them as they are a marvellous team - we are just using them as an example as the leading county of recent seasons...but even if you exclude their goal tallies, they averaged over 28 points per SHC contest in 2020 and 27 points in the summer just gone.

"Here’s the crux: they only scored two goals in five championship games last year, perhaps partly because raising white flags was a more reliable route to victory. "They revealed a greater lust for goals this season (eight in four SHC games) but it still begs the question: what if we increased the value of a goal once more?

"Would it encourage more teams to gamble if they knew it was worth, say, four points? The aim is simple - primarily to encourage attacking play and then perhaps, as a by-product, to increase entertainment levels. "And that’s precisely what goals inject into a hurling point-fest - and equally a game of football."