“I do think you will find teams looking at this.”
Tomás Ó Sé explained on The Sunday Game how teams are able to beat the blanket defence, and make the game more high-scoring and exciting to watch.
The Kerry legend was analysing Monaghan’s victory over Clare, and pointed out how both teams were able to pick their shots from range, instead of running the ball into the packed defence.
Jack McCarron was on fire for the Farney county, kicking nine points, and a few of them were perfect examples of how to shoot from range and avoid carrying the ball into contact.
“You’re always taught, I suppose, to protect the D, that area is sacrosanct. You defend it hard.
“In Monaghan v Clare, both sides actually scored so much. 1-12 from play, Clare got, 1-19 Monaghan scored. But an awful amount of the scores were from outside.
“Darragh Bohannan had a huge game for Clare today, he got a brilliant goal in the second half. He started it off – as I was watching it, it was like up one side, down the other side. It literally was every single score outside the D.
“As I said, teams will be coached to clutter and cluster as they come inside that D. But here, both sides…some of the scoring.
"I do think you will find teams looking at this"
Tomás Ó Sé puts the spotlight on the longer range kicking that was to the fore between Monaghan and Clare #rtegaa #SundayGame
📺 Watch live – https://t.co/AKAre5Gf3l pic.twitter.com/TjvA3ACcAD
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 4, 2023
“It’s high-risk, I suppose, but it didn’t seem that wind was a factor up above today. Both sides, it didn’t matter what it was. It was strange, you don’t see teams taking chances like both teams did today.
“You could also ask if the defending was naive, they both pushed up on kickouts, that space was there. Do every team push up on kickouts? I’m not sure.
“I know we give out so much about defensive stuff – it was so refreshing to watch.”
Related links:
- “Without Clifford they are nothing” Joe Brolly rips into “mediocre” Kerry
- Rian O’Neill sees red in Armagh defeat for kneeling on Tyrone defender
- Marc O Sé compares Kerry midfield to Man United’s treble winning strikers
