It takes a pair of balls and plenty of confidence.
The first priority, and the main aim of the majority of corner backs is to keep their corner forward quiet. That’s why they were put in the team’s last line in the first place.
They mightn’t have the finesse of forwards but they’re sticky and they’ll make their marker earn his score. Half backs are traditionally more confident in possession, but holding their man will still be the name of the game.
A number 2 or 4 could have a great game without getting on the ball once so when the ball does break to them, it can be a shock to the system. Most of them will lump it up the field, happy to clear their lines. It’s not ideal but it is excusable seen as it’s not their duty to attack or to set up scores.
But the game is changing, and Wexford are the main instigators. Davy Fitzgerald has brought his short, crisp passing game from Clare to the Sunny-South-East and the Model County men are revelling in it.
Last Sunday, the Yellow Bellies struggled to tack the scores against Dublin despite dominating the game, and that’s why it went all the way down to the wire.
But after doing all the donkey work and failing to seal the deal, eventually, they did take the chances that came their way.
These chances kept coming to the forwards because of the good work being done by back men like Paudie Foley, Dee O’Keeffe, Liam Ryan and like Damien Reck.
Unlike many defenders, whenever any of these lads get on the ball, they turn into their team’s first attacker. They realise they have what every other player on the pitch wants and they take care of that sliotar.
Instead of a hail mary into the forwards like Tipperary were guilty of against Limerick, the Wexford lads took it upon themselves to work it up the field and give their team the best chance of scoring.
And they deserve credit for that because it would be a lot easier to just get rid of it because then they wouldn’t look like fools if they lost it.
“Wexford are a funny one, you see a lad like Damien Reck winning the ball and he’s never just happy to clear it. He actually runs it, handpasses it, then takes the return and is out of the traffic,” said Colm Parkinson on Monday’s GAA Hour Hurling Show.
That was a clear tactic. One passage of play involving corner back Reck was highlighted by Liam Sheedy on The Sunday Game and it showed this game-plan up better than anything else.
Reck, highlighted, claws a skyscraper in his own last line of defence.
Not content to launch it, he backs himself to roast two Dubs.
That he does before giving off a hand-pass.
And he stays driving on for the one-two.
And it’s like what you’d see in a game of gaelic football. Working the ball patiently up the field, it requires so much skill and plenty of bottle, but these lads were at it all day.
“You see the Foley point in the first half, he handpasses it to a lad in midfield, it’s like football, he gets the handpass back and he’s out clear of any traffic again and he puts it over the bar,” added Wooly.
“Davy is looking at gaelic football and taking a lot of ideas from gaelic football, like you see the corner backs and the half backs taking one-twos.”
Kilkenny JJ Delaney feels the sweeper system they employ plays a huge part in this tactic.
“They have a licence to go up the field there because they have a sweeper at the back there in Shaun Murphy. If Foley is gone or Dee O’Keeffe is gone, he can just slot in there and it’s still six on six. Then, when these lads do go up the field, they have the licence to actually go 100% because he’s not looking over his shoulder to see if his man is following him or not because the sweeper picks up his man there.
“They’re after getting a couple of scores from it over the years, and it is one focus of their play that their back line bomb forward. Liam Ryan does it as well.
And forwards are struggling with it.
A forward doesn’t want to be following them, so when these lads do get five yards, give that one-two, then they break the line and they’ve an option to go for their own shot or bypass the sweeper on the far side…It’s a very good tactic,” added JJ.
You can listen to this chat and much more from Monday’s GAA Hour Hurling Show right here.
