Lee Keegan has criticised the current ruling regarding the three-up/three-back rule when teams lose a player to a red/black card.
Teams are allowed to have less than three forwards up or less than three defenders back whenever they have a player sent off/black carded.
Meanwhile, the opposition team have to keep three men back and three men up regardless.
Galway were reduced to thirteen men for large parts of their defeat of Donegal on Sunday afternoon due to Matthew Tierney's red card and second half black cards for Daniel O'Flaherty and Finian Ó Laoi.
But they could still defend with 12 men when Donegal had the ball and they could still attack with 12/13 if they so wished when they had the ball themselves.
Donegal had to have three men back marking one Galway forward during this period, even if they had the ball themselves, and McGuinness thinks it's 'farcical.'
He feels that teams who lose players don't suffer a disadvantage in that they're allowed to re-jig their team depending on if they do or don't have the ball.
“It made not one difference to the game that Galway had a man sent off and two black cards," he said.
"I think when the opposition have a man sent off and they have two black cards and you have to leave three back to mark one man, there's something not right there."
Lee Keegan agreed with McGuinness' point, saying that the rule isn't 'fit for purpose' on The Sunday Game.
"The team that are losing men are not getting punished at all.
"They're gaining from the fact that 'we're going to keep these guys up. We're going to keep playing the way we're playing and we're going to hold onto the ball.'
"It's the team that have the full complement of players that are getting punished, even though they're the ones keeping their discipline.
"They have to (change it). It's not fit for purpose," added the former footballer of the year.
"It is null and void for the team that is disciplined and is keeping their temper and is trying to go about the game in the right manner. Today we seen clearly that it didn't any of Donegal or Tyrone."
Under football's new rules, red and black cards aren't negatively impacting those sides at a numerical 'disadvantage'. 'Not fit for purpose' was Lee Keegan's blunt assessment of how the rules are panning out, with amendments likely soon. #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/lXgR9UqYwA
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) February 23, 2025
One potential solution to the problem is that a team which loses players has to either attack or defend, at all times, with a player/players less than the opposition.
It was a similar situation in Pomeroy where Kerry received two black cards in the second half but rarely faced a numerical disadvantage.
