Loneliness of the long-distance point

GAELIC GAMES: KEITH DUGGANponders the notable lack of scores from out the field in Gaelic football and asks is it time to reward such scores, from frees or play, more extravagantly?

WHY IS it that of many thousands of points scored in Gaelic football, Maurice Fitzgerald’s sideline kick against Dublin is remembered by so many?

“It was just slow motion watching it going in there on the wind and over the bar,” said Tommy Carr who, as Dublin manager, had run along the sideline and had a better and more agonising view of the shot that anyone else in the stadium.

There is little question that, because Fitzgerald was a master stylist, the point was an embellishment of a reputation that was already cemented; the weirdest thing about that score is the number on the back of the Cahirciveen man’s shirt. He was operating from the substitute bench that year. But there are other scores, too, that register with people as “unforgettable” precisely because they involve strikes from great distance. Twenty years ago this summer Derek Duggan, then fresh out of St Jarlath’s College, lined up to take a last-minute free as Roscommon trailed by a point against Mayo in the Connacht final. The ball was 65 metres out from goal.

“Mattie Reilly called me out to take the free because he had seen me playing with the club and he knew it was within my range to get close at least. I remember in the States one summer hitting a free from within my own half and it went over the bar.

“But on that occasion, I wasn’t going for it, I just wanted to hit it as far as I could. And it was 100 degrees that day so the ball travels farther. But that day against Mayo the conditions were just good and thankfully it went over. You go through your routine and that is it. When I do a bit of kicking coaching now, I always use the analogy of the golf swing.”

The ball kept sailing, Roscommon got the draw and won the replay. That was that.

Those scores are remembered for two reasons. They are spectacular. And they are seldom seen. It sometimes seems unfair that one of the undeniable arts of Gaelic football – that of kicking with accuracy from a great distance – is not rewarded more extravagantly. In hurling, the GAA have at least toyed with the idea of promoting points scored with a sideline cut with the league experiment in which a “cut” was worth two. Is there not a similar argument for at least trying the idea of two points for scores kicked from the sideline or from distances greater than 55 metres – either from play or from a free kick.

Mark Herbert, the Kildare junior goalkeeper, holds the record for the kick fada competition, having landed a point from 72 metres in 2001. It is a phenomenal distance from which to land a ball over a bar. Herbert never abandoned his interest in free-taking, developed before he began playing as a goalkeeper in his teens, and could see the merit in drafting a bonus score for shots made from exceptional distances.

“I do think it is an interesting idea because you don’t see a lot of distance points,” he says. “The other element that is disappearing is the kick from the ground. Even in the kick fada you see people now kicking out of the hand. I have been kicking frees from the ground since I was 13 or so. I am tall and had a natural technique developed. I still put a lot of time into it. You constantly practice kicking throughout the year. We saw it in the hurling with the sideline cut and I don’t think there is any harm in trying to reward these skills. It would certainly be worth introducing it on a trial basis. And it could work the same with the football – those sideline scores are not easy to execute in football.”

But could it work? In the hugely one-sided All-Ireland final of 2004, Mayo’s Ciarán McDonald landed two gigantic frees against Kerry before the game ran away from Mayo. Such was the disappointment of the final those kicks were washed away in the deluge but they were stunning examples of skill. In 1985, Eamonn McEnaney landed a crucial free for Monaghan, who were playing in the new stratosphere of an All-Ireland semi-final. It was the closing kick of the game and McEnaney’s point brought the match to a replay. It is tantalising to wonder, though, about the possibilities that might arise if scores made from such outrageous distances were worth two points.

“I can see the point because those kinds of scores are spectacular. But I do think that would be hard to regulate,” says Duggan.

“It would have to benefit all teams and the game rather than certain individuals. I feel that if a team possesses a player like that who can take long-distance kicks, they have an advantage anyhow. And teams will have their homework done on him and won’t give too many frees anyhow. Also, I do wonder if it would be fair to reward a strike from far out the field rather than a score where the ball was worked the whole way up. Going back to 1991 and Kevin Foley’s goal to win that game against Dublin, the ball was just tapped in at the end but it was worked the whole way up the field and it was a fabulous score.”

In 1989, a work group chaired by former Dublin captain Tony Hanahoe devised a series of improvisations designed to improve the overall quality of Gaelic football and to quicken the game. Games were divided into four quarters and a fouled player had the option of taking a free from his hands. The result was an immediate spike in scoring averages but by the time Congress came around in 1990, a feeling arose that the rules were affecting the traditional strengths of the game. But as Hanahoe pointed out, spectators were getting 21 minutes of play per 30 minutes as opposed to 11 minutes under the prevailing rules. Goalscoring had improved by 75 per cent and point-scoring by 39 per cent. “Nobody can deny that is improvement,” he said.

The four-quarter experiment was abandoned but taking frees from the hand has now become second nature in Gaelic football. It has unquestionably quickened the game up but it has inadvertently led to the decline of the art of taking frees from the ground.

“I think one of the reasons is that practising free-taking from the ground takes a lot of time,” says Duggan. “And it (kicking from the hand) is a lot easier to do it . . . But it is not as accurate because there are more variables, your movement, the ball movement . . . Because I was reasonably good at free-taking I was never really in favour of kicking out of your hands. It diminished the art of free-taking. And it has been borne out because there is a deterioration of players kicking from the ground.

“You need to start from a young age. Size has nothing to do with it whatsoever. It is about technique and momentum. You don’t have to be a big man to hit a golf ball far either. Think of Frankie Dolan or Pauric Davis, neither particularly big but tremendous at hitting long-range scores.”

But fewer and fewer teams are willing to try to take shots from long distance, with a premium placed on possession and working the ball forward to higher percentage scoring areas. With the emphasis placed on physical fitness, the time forwards have to devote to what would seem to be their primary job – kick scores – is less and less.

“The majority of players now rely on physical strength and teams have one key guy and he is the guy,” says Mark Herbert.

“The role of a lot of forwards is to win the ball for that one guy. Some teams have more natural forwards but that is the exception.”

One of the most common complaints about Gaelic football is about the dominant role of hand-passing in the game, with players breaking tackles and transferring the ball to support players who carry the ball forward until they, too, meet the opposition defence. Rarely do players even look up at the posts – it could be argued that they couldn’t see them anyway given the swarm defence that most teams employ – until they get into the final third of the pitch. Isn’t it possible the option of a two-point score for a striking the ball over the bar from 50 metres from play or 60 metres from a free would at least make teams think about kicking long again?

And wouldn’t it lead to an immediate revival in the art of the long-range free struck from the ground?

When Derek Duggan was growing up, he used to watch Offaly’s Matt Connor and Mikey Sheehy of Kerry kicking frees for inspiration. What struck him was the simplicity of their approach – straightforward and short approaches and a relaxed kick which did not seem to vary regardless of the length. And always from the ground. And Duggan was the player who influenced Roscommon’s Donal Shine, whose prolific kicking from frees and play was a highlight of last year’s championship.

Tinkering with Gaelic football is nothing new. The idea of reducing the game to 13-a-side was spoken about half a century ago and it still has to happen. But the game is constantly evolving. The sight of goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton venturing from the Dublin goalmouth to kick long-range points is still fairly novel but it will be no surprise if a trend develops for goalkeepers to finish matches with more scores to their name than some of the forwards. Goalkeepers are required to kick long and accurately. If they have the temperament for taking frees, it makes sense to use them.

“I don’t take frees for Kildare juniors but I definitely think that if they introduced a bonus score system for long-range points, you would see more and more goalkeepers coming up the field,” Herbert says.

It could lead to that and to highly unpredictable finishes to close matches, with teams having the option of a long-range score as well as a goal to rescue games.

And it could change the way teams think about scoring, about playing the game and about strategically fouling opponents. But, for now, those glorious gems from way outfield or flush against the sideline that seem to travel forever will remain memorable precisely because they are so seldom seen.