Use your head next time.
We’ve all been there, marking a man and the ball comes towards him. You panic, see the ball and just go for it.
You’ll look like a hero if you come out with it, start the counter attack and get a score because of it but most times that won’t happen.
Dive in and next thing you know your man has the ball, gets around you and pops the score.
Left red faced and ashamed everyone is looking at you wondering what possessed you to dive in like that.
Not to single out Shane Enright for his performance on Saturday and the Sunday beforehand but Andy Moran well and truly got the better of him over two matches scoring 2-6.
Moran has now propelled himself to favourite to win Player of the Year because of this but that was with some help from Enright’s defending or lack of.
On the latest episode of the GAA Hour, Cian Ward held no punches when talking about Enright’s performance and in turn explained what you should be doing when marking someone in that position.
“(Shane) Enright was just, I’ve never seen such a roasting in two games by a man on the same fella never seen the likes of it, just complete panic stations from a defender making daft decisions diving in on Andy Moran,” Ward said.
“Of all players, Andy Moran we all know is an excellent player. His movement is superb, he’s brilliant on the turn he can kick points off left and right but he’s not an Olympic sprinter so you don’t dive in, you stand off you stand about a yard off Andy Moran so that you’re close enough that if he is going to try unless it is a brilliant score from Andy Moran you’re going to be close enough to get in and have an attempt at blocking or certainly put him under serious pressure but you don’t let him inside you.
“You don’t fall for his first dummy every single time. You don’t dive in when the ball is coming for a ball you’re never going to get.
“Look, it happens, players are low in confidence or they’re panicked or a bit spooked and this can happen them. The sweeper was redundant. The basic, basic defensive instincts of Enright particularly was not good enough,” the former Meath footballer concluded.
Well, there you have it, just don’t dive in and then get the tackle in. If your teammates are doing their job there should be no worries of offloading that ball to someone in a scoring position.
You can listen to the full episode of the GAA Hour belowÂ
