THE DECISION of the Games Administration Committee of the GAA not to conduct a witch hunt following the Meath Tyrone All Ireland semi final was as welcome as was unexpected. There have been times in the past when the GAC has been less than wise in some of its decisions and it was for that reason that another ham fisted handling of a delicate situation was feared.

Thankfully wiser counsel seems to have prevailed and can look forward to a final which promises to provide with a match of quality.

As the match was being discussed in the environs of Croke Park last Sunday, the mains topic of conversation was the margin of victory for Meath and the surprise collapse off. Tyrone in the second half.

It was widely accepted that Meath had improved beyond all recognition from the Leinster final victory over Dublin and that Tyrone seemed to haven faded badly since their Ulster final victory over Down. Meath's typically uncompromising approach and the standard of some of the football they played were the elements which were commented upon.

It was only after RTE was flooded with telephone calls from television watchers that a certain focus was put upon one or two incidents in the match. The pressure then built up early in the week as newspaper offices were inundated with calls drawing attention to information which emerged from continuous slow action replays.

Let us focus therefore on the Martin O'Connell Brian Dooher incident. Few in the crowd of 60,000 actually knew what happened until replay after replay on television continued to whip up what in the end amounted to hysteria.

My own view of the incident is this (on the basis of several viewings in fast and slow motion): As the ball broke away Brian Dooher fell in front of Martin O'Connell who was hot in pursuit of the ball, not an unusual role for him. O'Connell was falling too, until he steadied himself with one hand which gained purchase on the back of Dooher's head and O'Connell, having thus steadied himself, kept going forward and made contact with the sole of his boot on the back of the fallen Dooher's head.

The whole thing happened at breakneck (no pun intended) speed and, in my view, it is fatally distorted - insofar as rational analysis is concerned by playing it at slow speed again and again. If we leave aside for a minute, Martin O'Connell's reputation as a fair, decent player for a long period of years in club and inter county football, we should look first at the game of football and what it has become.

Extraordinary levels of fitness have been achieved by players in the top grade within the last 10 to 15 years. The game has become punishingly fast. Players are so totally committed that many regard it as a personal tragedy if they are forced to leave the field through injury. Injury at times may even be concealed by players to avoid losing a place in the side.

The game itself is now almost totally a game where possession, once gained, must not be surrendered without a serious battle. Possession is everything.

The fact of the matter is that the rules of the game have not taken full account of these developments. There is no really valid method for one player to dispossess an opponent, which makes possession all the more valuable.

No longer is a corner back or a half back expected to police a designated area with instruction to "mark yer man" under pain of ridicule. In the Mayo Kerry semi final it didn't merit much comment when the Mayo centre half back, James Nallen, thundered through the Kerry defence for a crucial goal. Vhen Kevin Moran tried this kind of thing back in the 70s, it was regarded as a move somewhere between genius and madness.

While all of this has been going on the rules have remained static. Some cosmetic changes have been made but the tinkering which has gone on has tended to confuse rather than enlighten. Rules are still being enacted for a game which no longer exists.

What remains to be done by the GAA is to seek ways to curb the "carry and possession game". Some kind of limitation should be put on the solo run, either by limiting the toe to hand skill - which would be a pity - or, more realistically, the hopping of the ball more than once.

A serious look at the possibility of two referees in championship football should also be considered. Eagle eyed umpires who are under strict instructions to take their role seriously should also be recruited for top level matches. They should be told that they are there, not to watch the match, but to act as a back up to the referee while he is on duty in the other half of the pitch.

Above all the GAA should not be swayed by the armchair viewers, who seem to believe that Gaelic football is some kind of a parish picnic which gives them the opportunity to have their views aired on chat shows when somebody forgets the salt.