The second problem is that the system is designed to exclude late developers. Neither Lar Corbett nor John Mullane would have made it through the system because they were too small at age 14 to be any use to a county intent on winning the Tony Forristal. And if you are outside this system you tend to remain outside it. [/quote]
I think that was the case with Shefflin as well, late bloomer.
Iâm seeing this with underage soccer development squads in Australia, its incredibly regimented and there is an acceptance that if you are not in a program by the time youâre 7, youâre no one and will never be heard of again.
At least Shefflin was in the system, though just about by all accounts. [quote=âFitzy, post: 593011â]
I think that was the case with Shefflin as well, late bloomer.
Iâm seeing this with underage soccer development squads in Australia, its incredibly regimented and there is an acceptance that if you are not in a program by the time youâre 7, youâre no one and will never be heard of again.
[/quote]
The way to stop the Tipp forwards is to stop their half backline and midfield getting a grip in the game, if you can slow the ball down that is going into their inside forwards you then give your full backline a chance to contain them. If their half backline is under pressure to clear their lines and isnât giving their forwards a quality supply of ball tipp donât have any real out & out ball winner. corbett and mcgrath can catch ball and are good in the air in one one one situations but not what I would class as ball winners, Kelly to his credit for a good number of years put up big scores for Tipp despeite getting poor enough service for the most part but isnât the player he was 5 years ago in this regard while Bonnar will scrap and harry all day and battle for loose ball on the ground and does a successful job he & can win ball he is stoppable. Lads like Callinan and OâBrien have shown before than when the game becomes scrappy that they can disappear and Kilkenny have the backs to really contest and win scrappy ball and make it a battle. Now to stop Tippâs 5-9 dominating is easier said than done and I donât think Kilkenny have the men to do it, Fennelly, Rice and Shefflin will all put in big shifts but I havenât been impresses with TJ Reid at midfield this year, no doubting his hurling ability but seems to lack the real workrate required for it while Eoin Larkin looks to be better utilised at 14 this year than at wing forward and was another to look fairly lethargic and off the pace v Waterford. Tipp are still very much the team to beat and I would be surprised if they are beaten this year or next
id agree with this. would you be of the opinion that defenders are better to play their positions/zone rather than being detailed to mark a specific player and follow him everywhere?
[size=4]I think you need a mixture of both, If Kilkenny try and go man for man they will be cut open as their backs simply donât have the pace to stay with the movement and to cover back if a Tipp player breaks a tackle. You need to protect your goalmouth and not give Tipp goal opportunities I think as play develops you have to go man to man, but as play breaks down or stops for freeâs, sidelines, puckouts etc you have to handover the marker and move back to your position/area and pick up whatever man is there and start over again and he is your man til the next break in play to a certain extent, you donât want your corner backs following men 50 ir 60 yards out the field either. It would take a lot of discipline and communication though[/size]
exactly, it goes without saying that you pick up the player in your zone and follow him in open play and return to said position whenn play breaks down. If you simply man mark you get lads playing in positions alien to them and thats where problems arise i.e. the defending/skills required in full back line are different to those in half back line.
Itâs all about getting the man handed off and getting back on the new man in your position as quick as possibly once play breaks down. Any lapse in concentration and youâre left very exposed.
exactly. it would be nuts if this was not work on continously in A vs B matches. good communication is the key but this is a skill that some players may lack.
The key to stopping Tipp, is to stop the FF line getting in behind you, very difficult to do if they are getting the right ball. If you can choke supply as Chewy has said you have a chance.
Corbett is a fantastic player but a pure poacher, he will rarely make a score for himself but is always in the right place to get on the end of a long ball or a handpass. Itâd therefore be much easier to keep Corbett quiet than say Shefflin, supply is the key.
Kelly is passed his best but has similar to Corbett adopted a poaching role where he pops off the shoulder of other Tipp lads and taps it over the bar.
Ideally youâd stop it further out the field but if not, if you can keeping Tipp from winning first time ball by batting it away or whatever is nessecary, and have your defenders keep them outside and make them take points, you might have a chance. If they win first time ball and move it quickly your goosed.
As someone said earlier, Corbett isnât unmarkable, he doesnât bang in 4-4 in club games. Itâs the system the forwards are using at the moment that is unmarkable (seems to be for most teams anyways). It comes back to the question I raised after the Munster final, where I asked if Corbett had improved that much as hurler or if he was just now in a system that suits his existing skill set (but has obviously improved on work rate and speed). If you can disrupt the system and disrupt the ball to the forwards, then there is hope against Tipp.
take mahers*2 and noel mcgrath out of tipp and they would win fuck all. put said players in a waterford, cork, clare, limerick etc and your a genuine contender overnight.
hannon and downes are potentially these type of player and is why limerick have a serious chance of contending in near future.
when limerick won those 3 u21s they had a lot of players of a decent standard but failed to produce the 3/4 superstars that you need to compliment the other 11/12 players and which makes those players BETTER players.
That team had plenty of players who looked like they could be superstars, but other distractions saw them never fulfill their potential. Eoin Foley, Peter Lawlor, Mark Keane all had bags of potential at that time.
But they never became superstars unlike mahers and mcgrath. In addition, with the exception of shaughs, none of those you mentioned would have being identified as a potential great.
Donât think Keane was ever going to be a star an senior level even if he wasnât such a boozehound. Didnât have the pace needed to be a top inside forward
Something of a truism isnât it? Beating the opposing half-backline is a priority in any game. The problem of course is that no great team has a weak half-backline which is why your own use of the ball is so important. Kilkenny had a window of opportunity to get back into last yearâs final but their use of the ball killed them. Their inability to create scoring chances on the flanks in particular showed a serious lack of imagination and once more showed how quickly the aura of invincibility disappears when key men are out. Thereâs too much individuality in Kilkennyâs game which maybe reflects the one on one, contested drills approach they use in training. Tipp by contrast donât have the ball winning ability of Kilkenny but they do know how to find each other. A good start for teams in tackling Tipp would be breaking the mystique around what their forwards do by picking patterns out of it. Itâs not just random running, there are situations that theyâre trying to create and if you know what they are you should be able to see them coming. Corbettâs U-shaped runs are an obvious example.
Incidentally these are the scoring distributions from last yearâs All Ireland finals which give a good indication of the difference between the two sides in attack.
