Aug 12, 2026 · 0 min · 10 segments
This week’s guest on Stand Out with Ian O’Connell is Tom Parsons. Top is a former Mayo footballer. He suffered what has been described as career ending, life debilitating knee injury, only to be told…
I was over in Boston Celtics Museum looking at basketball in the early 10s and 20s, like 100 years ago, like there was no backcourt pass or shot clock.
And I suppose we probably should have been doing smaller adaptions of our games over the last 20 or 30 years.
But the lads did a really good job to come in and really go for radical changes.
When you think about it, you know, in a modern game, you know, to be keeping three up and to be able to have the game so fluid without people, you know, crossing the line, like that was a complex enough move for clubs and teams to adapt to.
A lot of people were talking about there needs to be two referees and the referees have adapted really well.
You know, we know how challenging some of the calls are, but that's always been there, you know, at this pace.
You know, I think Gaelic football is back and, you know, I think players are enjoying it more.
For years, we've seen some of the best forwards at club level or county level being swallowed up by this blanket defence.
And now we're seeing, you know, the likes of my fellow county man, an 18-year-old, Kobe McDonald, being able to really express themselves because these defences don't exist.
Everybody wants to see, you know, the skill of our games and the rules have done a great job.
Nazan, I think it was at Mayo, the front line, they scored 217 or something alone the last day in the match.
Would you like to have been playing, I suppose, midfield when you catch the ball in Colin Mark? Would you have liked to play in that kind of era? Yeah.
And at the time, I remember coming up against Kerry and Cork were actually quite dominant.
I was over in Boston Celtics Museum looking at basketball in the early 10s and 20s, like 100 years ago, like there was no backcourt pass or shot clock.
And I suppose we probably should have been doing smaller adaptions of our games over the last 20 or 30 years.
But the lads did a really good job to come in and really go for radical changes.
When you think about it, you know, in a modern game, you know, to be keeping three up and to be able to have the game so fluid without people, you know, crossing the line, like that was a complex enough move for clubs and teams to adapt to.
A lot of people were talking about there needs to be two referees and the referees have adapted really well.
You know, we know how challenging some of the calls are, but that's always been there, you know, at this pace.
You know, I think Gaelic football is back and, you know, I think players are enjoying it more.
For years, we've seen some of the best forwards at club level or county level being swallowed up by this blanket defence.
And now we're seeing, you know, the likes of my fellow county man, an 18-year-old, Kobe McDonald, being able to really express themselves because these defences don't exist.
Everybody wants to see, you know, the skill of our games and the rules have done a great job.
Nazan, I think it was at Mayo, the front line, they scored 217 or something alone the last day in the match.
Would you like to have been playing, I suppose, midfield when you catch the ball in Colin Mark? Would you have liked to play in that kind of era? Yeah.
And at the time, I remember coming up against Kerry and Cork were actually quite dominant.
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3 of 8
Warned He Might Never Walk
Doctors warned he might never walk again
Turning Injury Into Purpose
He found purpose beyond sport during recovery
Why Men Must Show Vulnerability
Honesty helps men find support when struggling
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