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Defending against the Mark
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How Would You Defend Against The Mark?
Somebody asked this question yesterday. They were referencing the new "mark rules", and being a defender in the full back line.
Here was my reply - In general, your number one priority is to deny clean possession in the Scoring Zone
- Just focus on the man. In fact, face the man, denying opportunities for "The Dinky Ball" ( short 20-25 M Passes will make up the majority of marks)
- Do not switch off, even for a second. You now don't get a chance to defend.
- Learn your opponents body language, and how they position their body, especially their hands, as the ball is being delivered.
- Practice anticipating the moment before the ball arrives, without having vision of the full flight of the ball, and getting a hand in
- Insist that there is serious pressure on the kicker in the "Set Up Zone"
- Develop clear communications with your goal keeper
Everyone's a Free Taker
With the introduction of the Advanced Mark in Gaelic Football, the game has fundamentally changed.In the stroke of a pen, everyone is now a free taker.No doubt coaches up and down the country will be flat out running 15 second free taking drills. May the team with the best free takers win.But on the flip [...]
Johnny Cooper got caught....
Defending is all about context. The proper defensive position in one game is not necessarily the proper position for the next game, even if the situation looks the same.In last weekend's All Ireland Final, Johnny Cooper made the decision to play a yard in front of Clifford, as his default position. On the face of [...]
The Goal That Beat Mayo 2019 Part 2
There have been alot of comments from people saying that nobody could have defended that goal. Lee Keegan is as strong and athletic as Con O Callaghan, so it had to come down to poor defending or smart forward play.If you look at the O' Callaghan Goal from behind the goal, you can can see [...]
The Goal That Beat Mayo 2019
There are key moments in every game. We all know that. In Dublin V Mayo 2019, the key moment was when Con O' Callaghan scored his first goal ( Mayo needed to stay in the game for the first 15 minutes of the second half). While Dublin did up the intensity in the second half, there [...]
The Near Hand Tackle
If you've done any level of coaching or playing, no doubt you've come across the Near Hand Tackle. It has been put up there as the Panacea of tackling. But for all my years playing, coaching, and watching football, I could count on 2 hands the number of times that the near hand tackle has [...]
When You Think You're Done, You've Just Begun
"When you think you're done, you've just begun"No matter where you find yourself, no matter how low things are, or how far off the pace you've become, this is a simple yet powerful philosophy, that can only lead to better.It can be used at a certain point in your career, a particular point in the [...]
The "Storm Emma" Lesson
We are after experiencing one of the worst weather events in Ireland in decades. While the weather itself was remarkable, what is even more remarkable is the low numbers of fatalities and injuries that it caused.We were hearing from the powers that be for about one week before the storm arrived, how serious it was [...]
What About Your Goals Now?
February is a funny month. It ends much quicker than every other month. Even though it's only 2 days shorter, it is always ,suddenly, the month March. And it is always a good time to take stock of where you are at.Do you remember the promises you made to yourself at the start of the [...]
Players are Predictable
Every player has a repertoire of skills, knowledge, techniques and habits ( we'll call them "things they do") that they bring to every match.If we apply what they call 80/20 thinking to analysing this player, it should follow that they will use 20% of these "things they do", 80% of the timeIf you figure out [...]