Latest news with #two-pointers
Irish Times
24-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
How Kerry or Donegal could win or lose the All-Ireland final
Most of the attention this summer has been on two-pointers – on which counties are scoring them and which counties are not even attempting them. However, a key aspect of the attacking play of both finalists is that they haven't forgotten the score that produces the most impact. Galway were the most prolific in raising green flags this Championship campaign, with 17 across eight games (2.13 goals per game), but Kerry are just behind them with 15 in eight games (1.88 goals per game). Donegal are no slouches themselves, third overall for total goals, with 13. That figure is aided by the amount of games they've played, but they are still fifth in goals per game, scoring 1.3. The counties have come across their goals by very different means. Kerry have scored 15 goals and it will be no surprise to anyone that David Clifford has amassed more than half that tally, with eight goals. A concern for the Kingdom is that Clifford is the only man to raise a green flag since May. A guide to each Kerry championship goal in 2025, with seven goalscorers. There are two aspects that really stick out in Kerry's overall style of play this summer. Against Armagh, Kerry were lauded for their kickout defence as they shut down Ethan Rafferty. Before this, they ruthlessly capitalised on Roscommon's kickout, sourcing three goals directly from winning the midfield battle. The two high kickouts won on the map below show the effectiveness of their press, while they also profit well from breaking balls out the field, thanks to the battling abilities of Joe O'Connor. READ MORE Kerry's have scored two goals from short opposition kickouts, while Donegal focus more on their own restart, with Patton sending the ball long Kerry's structured unit has been executed perfectly to profit off opposition kickouts this year. It's been one of their biggest strengths, no doubt helped by the addition of Cian O'Neill to Jack O'Connor's backroom team. Roscommon's kickout goes to an isolated player, who is already surrounded by Kerry players looking to intercept David Clifford has been their go-to man since his intercounty arrival and he is the focal point of the Kerry attack more than ever this year. He has scored a total of 8-53 this summer. With such a potent inside forward, the Kerry game plan is often about getting the ball in there rapidly. Clifford cuts out a kickout against Cork and scores a goal directly from the high press Some of Kerry's goals really emphasise their kick passing skills. Seán O'Shea delivered a well executed sideline ball into Clifford for the first goal against Cavan. There was a lot left for the Fossa man to do as he won the ball on the 20m line, but he broke the tackle and drove hard along the endline before firing into the back of net. 'Get the ball in, it's one on one' seems to be the tactic with Clifford. Still plenty of work for Clifford to do, but the early ball in affords him the space to create the goal The opening goal against Clare was even more direct. Tony Brosnan measured a perfect ball into Clifford from around 65m out, spinning the ball right to the corner-forward, who found the net. The second goal that day was also via a direct ball, with Tom O'Sullivan getting his head up to survey the inside options and feeding the ball inside. Brosnan gets his head up early to find Clifford for Kerry's opening goal in the Munster final Kerry have utilised the kick pass 19 times in the build-up to their goals. This is in stark contrast to Donegal, who only kicked the ball 10 times in the build up to theirs. One of these was a square pass from Oisín Gallen to Conor O'Donnell inside the 13m line against Meath. Donegal are effectively kicking the ball half as often as Kerry, with only one of these passes being an aggressive forward kick pass, via Ryan McHugh. This emphasises how much of a 'through-the-hands' team they are. This aspect of their play is the real hallmark of Jim McGuinness 's outfit, who are able to give and receive hand passes at full pace going forward. This skill execution at full pace is only an aspect of their style though, as hard running and finishing out support runs is key to it all working. Shaun Patton's huge kickout and Donegal's willing runners open up space in the scoring zone against Down Donegal players from all parts of the field run hard during quick attacks, getting ahead of the ball and stretching opposition defences considerably. This is likely to be a key battleground in Sunday's encounter. Kerry have a sturdy central channel but they haven't met the 'sprint repeatability' that Donegal possess through the central channels. The key to making Patton's kickouts even more successful is runners sprinting ahead of the ball straight away While Donegal play the ball through the hands a lot, they also have the weapon of Shaun Patton, with unmatched length and trajectory to his kickouts. Kerry dealt well with Niall Morgan's kickouts in the semi-final, but he doesn't have the range of Patton, nor do the Red Hand men have co-ordinated runners off the long kickout like Donegal. Patton's kickout exceeds Morgan's, flying well into the opposition half, where Donegal back that up with support runners Kerry have done really well from their kickout press, but they must be wary as Donegal typically favour either short or long kickouts. Kerry will have to adapt their defensive structure on these restarts, which could mean that mid-range gaps may materialise for Patton. If Kerry push up to stop short kickouts, then the kickout could go over their heads and leave them defending facing their own goal and unstructured, like Meath It is hard to play against Donegal considering their strength is their lack of reliance on any individual. This is shown below in the variety of goalscorers they've had and also the men providing assists. Donegal's style of play means that they are not reliant on any one player for goals Everyone is expected to be able to carry out the basics – run, carry and handpass – at both ends of the field. There is a rapid pace to their attacks, with Donegal possession in the build-up to goals lasting just 20 seconds on average, compared with Kerry's 27 seconds. While goals are only a small aspect of the play, they highlight three broader strengths of the finalists: Donegal 1 – The weapon of Shaun Patton's long kickouts. 2 – Players finishing out their runs to create gaps and stretch opposition defences. 3 – Lack of reliance on any individual to score, with trust in the unit. Kerry 1 – Sticking to traditional values of aggressive kick passing to the inside forward line (something that hasn't been as prevalent as expected with the new rules) 2 – Defensive kickout press, which is even more important for stronger teams than their own kickout. 3 – The brilliance of David Clifford, with the other players knowing this and feeding him ball.
Irish Times
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Two-point shots are affecting the game, but not in the ways you might expect
Looking back over the season, one statistic on two-pointers stands out. From 61 provincial and All-Ireland championship games so far in 2025, only three would have ended in a different result if there was no two-point arc. Louth would have drawn against Kildare in the Leinster semi-final and had to survive extra-time, rather than continuing on their way to making history by ending a 68-year provincial drought . Rather than being unceremoniously dumped out of the championship , Mayo would have cruised through to the last eight of the All-Ireland with a win over Donegal. And finally, Galway would have beaten Derry in their group-stage classic in Celtic Park, rather than drawn. Admittedly, that result would have changed little about the state of the knockout rounds. READ MORE Derry's Conor Doherty scores with the last kick of the game against Galway in their All-Ireland SFC round-robin match. Photograph: Lorcan Doherty/Inpho And that's it. Everything else would have remained just as it was if long-range efforts were still only worth a single point. Of course, this isn't an exact science. Take Tyrone's victory over Dublin last weekend for example; the seven-point margin at the end of the game meant that they would have won by two points regardless of the arc, but they stayed ahead throughout that game thanks to the two-pointers. It was only towards the end of the contest that they pushed their lead out. Of course, a lot of these two-point efforts are only being attempted because of their heightened value. And that's leaving out the effects of the misses (all the bloody misses) from miles out. Anyone who plays or watches club games will be able to tell you all about lads with notions finding a half a pocket of space outside the arc and thinking they're Maurice Fitzgerald. Even still, when an entirely new denomination of scoring is added to the game, it would be fairly logical to expect more of a direct impact on results. The fact is that while some teams do specialise in long-range shooting, it's not usually enough of a sole factor to determine results. When there is a large gulf in two-pointers in a match, it's usually just one part of a big gap in quality between the sides. For example, when Kerry beat Cork by 11 points at the end of May, the Rebels could hardly blame it solely on being outscored 7-3 in two-pointers. On the other hand, the two-point rule, along with the other Football Review Committee changes, has had the effect of making football results read like hurling scores in many games. This isn't just due to the skewing caused by two-pointers either, as the average number of scores per game has increased from 29.8 in last year's football championship to 36.3 this season − a massive 21 per cent increase. One of the most common critiques of the two-point rule has been the increased reward for free-kicks outside the arc. However, on average, there is less than two placed kicks of that type per game, which seems to indicate that they're not as detrimental as could have been expected. Another major concern had been the possible devaluation of goals, but so far this year the rate of goals is very marginally up, perhaps a side-effect of defences pushing up to defend the arc. Seán O'Shea steadies himself to kick a score for Kerry against Armagh at Croke Park on Sunday. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho One side-effect that critics of the new rules warned of was the prospect of major drubbings due to the increased scoring. However, so far, the average margin of victory is down from 6.6 points to 6.2, and this is before what should theoretically be the closest few games of the season. Out of this year's semi-finalists, Meath had made a specialty of two-point shooting, averaging well over three a game, but their win over Galway saw the Royals fire a blank from outside the arc. With three, all from play, Donegal had their best showing from distance in the semis, as did Tyrone with five. That won't scare Kerry though, as they also hit five against Armagh and have the highest average of the final four at 3.4 per game in the championship. Regardless of how often they've been the difference maker so far this season, all of the remaining teams will be looking to gain an extra edge through kicks outside the arc. If the semis are as tight as they promise to be, then there may be more than three results changed by two-pointers by the end of the 2025 championship.
