You have to score to win games.
It is a hell of a lot easier said than done though.
In the days where sweeper systems and blanket defences are wide spread, teams have had to reinvent how they attack.
Off the shoulder running and quick counter attacks have been given a new life lease of life due to this and how teams go about scoring was a talking point on the latest episode of the GAA Hour.
“The most effective tactic in the game at the minute is getting the ball from defence to attack as fast and as quick as possible,” said former Armagh footballer Steven McDonnell.
“If you’ve got ball winners in the half forward line that can control the ball first time from the kick pass then you have a strong opportunity to get the ball further into the score zone with that type of play.”
Colm Parkinson went in-depth into how this tactic should work.
“This is the way you look at it,” the former Laois player said. “You have a two man full forward line and you have a two man half forward line and everybody else defends when you don’t have the ball.”
“You’re working back so if the other team is slow with its build up you’ve got 11 players behind the ball.”
“So when you have a two man full forward line…you’re always told ‘movement’, crisscross.
“All these things that you’ve learned at underage level and all the way up through in the full forward line, the same principle applies to the two lads in the half forward line because they’re another point of attack now so they have to be crisscrossing, they have to be getting out in front of their man.
“They have to be giving you the same movement, they have to be acting like full forwards but in the half forward line so when they get on that ball they’re turning and they’re giving it in.
“In my head, if I had a football team, I would be doing shot clocks in training, I would be doing two half forwards and two full forwards, I would be coaching movement. Anyone who doesn’t want to move and put their body on the line to win that ball in the half forward line and move that ball fast you’re not playing on the team. And I think that’s beautiful tactics for a senior football team.”
You can listen to the whole talk from the 44-minute mark
