PATRICK MORRISON: Faced with one v one

By Patrick Morrison

GOALKEEPERS in Gaelic football have been entrusted with being the ultimate protector of their team’s goal. Their aim is to be there for the rest of their team whenever they fail to keep an attack out. They need to be at their utmost best in order to limit the amount of three-pointers their opponents score whenever they do make it through on goal.

Goalkeeping in Gaelic football is more situational based, regularly dealing with a differing set of ‘situations’ during competitive games. This is in contrast to soccer whereby goalkeeping is more shot stopping based as players can take pop shots from anywhere inside 40 metres. This does not happen anywhere near as much in Gaelic football where goalkeepers must make decisions upon developing situations rather than react to a goalbound shot.

One form of situation that goalkeepers in Gaelic football will face is what to do in one v one situations. This is whenever an attacker has either broken through or has been played in on goal one v one with the goalkeeper.

In these situations, the decision a goalkeeper makes in real time must be decisive and more importantly as automated as possible. By have a clear set of principles to use as a guide in these situations, it allows the goalkeeper to simply execute their actions rather than having to make decisions while reacting to the attacker’s actions.

Firstly, it is important for any goalkeeper to understand that in these situations all of the advantage is with the attacker. The goalkeeper is not expected to make the save. This means all of the pressure is on the attacker and not the goalkeeper. By understanding this alleviates the goalkeeper of any performance anxiety.

Secondly, the goalkeeper must remain calm and revert to their training in these situations ultimately executing their one v one principles effectively. Therefore, the goalkeeper, and their coach, must ensure that these principles are trained at regular intervals to ensure they are kept to the highest possible standards.

Here are the principles I used whenever I was playing in goal for Armagh and the Armagh Harps.

ANGLE OF SCORE

As an attacker approaches the goal, if you can imagine a set of invisible lines coming from both posts out to the ball it creates a triangle shape when using the goal line as the base of the triangle. Anything inside of the triangle is a score and anything outside of the triangle is a miss. Obviously, the goalkeeper only needs to focus on any shots that are inside the triangle ensuring that they are always in the line of the shot at all times and moving down the line of the shot whenever they wish to close the attacker down.

KILLZONE

Taken more figuratively than literal for obvious reasons, this zone is loosely the penalty area or slightly bigger or smaller depending upon the comfort of the goalkeeper as well as their starting position. As the attacker breaks the threshold the goalkeeper immediately ‘Closes the Gap’ (MSG Principle No.6) by reducing the distance quickly but conservatively always being ready for the shot on goal.

DISTANCES

From a distance of six feet or more away from the attacker, the goalkeeper must stay upright in their set position staying big with their arms out being ready for the attacker’s shot. Resist the urge to become compact and small as this gives the advantage more to the attacker. If the shot comes do not fall or dive backwards be proactive and brave taking the shot head on by getting in the way creating a wall for it to bounce off.

From a distance of two to six feet from the attacker, the goalkeeper mirrors the attacker. What I mean by this is if the attacker goes to shoot with their right foot the goalkeeper goes out and blocks to their left side or if the attacker shoots with their left foot the goalkeeper goes out and blocks to their right side. To block the shot the goalkeeper gets into a kneeling ‘K-shaped’ blocking technique with a trailing leg behind.

From a distance of two feet or less from the attacker, the goalkeeper initiates my Rounded technique. Standing the attacker up and watching their hips, allow the attacker to go around you keeping a dives length away at all times. Doing this will give the impression of an open goal to the attacker forcing them to shoot. ALL attackers are taught from knee high to shoot for goal low and hard, so you know exactly where they are going to shoot. Whenever they drop the ball to shoot for goal the goalkeeper then drives across the ground toward the ball getting in front of the shot to block.

MANIPULATE (MSG Principle No.7)

As the attacker approaches the goal the goalkeeper can come out slightly more on their stronger shooting foot forcing them to go onto their weaker shooting foot. By doing this it brings the shot to save ratio more in the goalkeeper’s favour.

Using body language can help the goalkeeper to do this. Putting an arm straight out with a wide-open hand akin to a nightclub bouncer or a no entry sign subconsciously forces the attacker the opposite way because our brains have been trained to react to these signals intuitively. With the other hand have it in a more inviting position with your elbow against your body and in a more open position like a restaurant waiter showing you to your table helps lure them to their weaker shooting side.

Ideally the goalkeeper wants to push the attacker to the side that will tighten the angle giving them even more of an advantage to make the save. By tightening the angle, it evens up the shot to save ratio far quicker and the tighter the angle the less space the attacker has to make the score.

Ultimately, in any one v one situation it is the attacker that holds all of the advantage meaning the goalkeeper is never expected to make the save.

That being said, the goalkeeper is not completely helpless as there are numerous actions they can take to wrestle the advantage more in their favour. By simply having a set of principles to follow in these situations, it drastically improves the goalkeeper’s chances of a favourable outcome.

The goalkeeper and their coach should take some time to come up with a set of these principles as well as putting a plan in place to ensure that they are trained on a regular basis to keep them at the highest possible performance standards.

If you would like anything in this article explained further and for all of your goalkeeping queries, please contact me at any of the avenues below:

Email:pmgoalkeeping@hotmail.com
Facebook: @MSoG11
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X: @MorSchGk