Free ace no longer trump card

Although the excellence of his general play prevented Brian Stynes from attracting too much personal blame, the Dublin centrefielder's missed-free from 13 metres symbolised why Dublin failed to win the drawn Leinster final two weeks ago.

Declan Darcy, Dublin's regular placekicker, was injured and is still not completely fit. This difficulty has focused attention on manager Tom Carr's decision to do without a specialist free-taker if Darcy is again unable to start.

Dublin's situation is unusual, but no longer that unusual. Whereas 10 years ago or so, top-class dead-ball kickers were a necessary ingredient in successful teams, nowadays fewer points are scored from placedballs and there are fewer specialists responsible for all such kicks.

"I'd say there's validity to that argument," according to Pat Daly, the GAA's chief coaching officer. "I was watching highlights of the first Dublin-Kildare match with a friend and thinking how many more of those frees would have been scored in the days when Jimmy Keaveney seemed to put over nearly everything within 50 yards."

The status of the free-taker has also become less influential. Teams can't afford to carry a player purely for place-kicking purposes, particularly against opposition as fit and mobile as Kildare.

Brian Stafford is one of the iconic figures from the age of place-kicking. In the same way as Dublin's Barney Rock and Cork's Larry Tompkins did for their counties, he dominated Meath's scoring returns in the late 1980s and early '90s.

"I tended to be able to distance my free-taking from general play," he says. "I remember in one of the four matches with Dublin (in 1991) I scored 1-6 and the six points were from frees. I felt I didn't play particularly well, but I maintained a high strike-rate from frees.

"My belief would be that you shouldn't play someone as a free-taker alone. That said, matches are won and lost by good and bad free-taking, but I could never accept being on a team just because of my frees. "Padraig Gravin is a case in point with Kildare. His general contribution is nil, but his free-taking is good. But Kildare decided they needed more in open play."

Eugene McGee managed Offaly to the 1982 All-Ireland. His team contained a legendary place-kicker in Matt Connor and his view is slightly at odds with the modern consensus.

"I think the first thing you pick as a manager is a free-taker. I don't believe that a county - particularly the size of Dublin - can't produce a competent kicker who's capable of keeping up in play."

Stafford and McGee agree on one thing: the importance of the kicker in terms of psychological impact as well as points scored, although each look at it from different angles.

"They knew if they give away any frees, Stafford or whoever was going to point it," says Stafford about his inter-county days. "Fellas on the team would tell me that they knew when we got a free that I would probably point it and that, psychologically, gave everyone a massive lift. Like if I saw someone making a great clearance or a tackle at the other end."

McGee is more cautionary. "The demoralising effect of missing frees is enormous," he says. "Everyone misses the odd one. Even Matt Connor wouldn't get them all, but with a good free-taker you're talking about getting at least eight out of 10 on average."

It's not that the species has died out. In recent years, Tyrone's Peter Canavan, Maurice Sheridan from Mayo and Meath's Trevor Giles have been solely responsible for frees in teams operating at a high level, but, more often, the burden is shared.

Neither are the returns as high as they once were. There are two influences on this. Firstly, the quality and discipline of defending have improved and, secondly, the kick from the hands has coincided with a decline in accuracy with apparently only Canavan comfortable with either method.

"There are a couple of influences," says Daly. "The introduction of yellow and red cards has heightened the profile of referees' sanctions. There has been a greater highlighting of foul play in the media and an increased reliance on a smaller band of referees to officiate at big matches. All these factors have brought about a greater degree of consistency."

McGee believes that modern styles of play have also affected the number of fouls conceded. "Kildare go out deliberately not to foul. More and more teams are attempting the same approach. They're more organised and they fall back in numbers.

"It's helped by slow build-up play and short passing. A player finds himself on the 21-yard line and instead of four or five defenders, he's surrounded by eight or nine."

Stafford feels that the way a player kicks the free has an influence on his accuracy. "I felt more comfortable kicking off the ground. There's a lot more control over the ball and accuracy is a lot better. Another thing is that, when all frees were off the ground, you had to practise an awful lot.

"I used to practice for hours and hours every week. Now, with the free from the hand, I wonder do players practice specially."

McGee agrees and regrets the passing of the meticulous marksmanship of former dead-ball exponents. "Kicking hasn't the pre-eminence it had. The free from the hand supposedly made it easier for all players to take frees. `Hallelujah, we're all able to have a go, sort of thing.' But the gist of it is that, what used to be a highly specialist skill, has been downgraded."