All goalkeepers want to improve. We all want to feel as if we are becoming better ‘keepers week on week. That said, it is important to realise that the amount you improve, and the rate of improvement are vastly increased with the more attention you pay towards the various areas of goalkeeping. To complicate things […]
TO reach the top and become the best takes a massive amount of time and effort to perfect your goalkeeping. You will spend hours and hours refining your skills with the aim of improving your performances between the posts. Ultimately, it is important to understand that perfection is unattainable because each time you improve and […]
With the club championship season entering the knockout stages in the majority of counties, once eliminated the time then turns to some well earned down time and a chance to rejuvenate the batteries for next season. For some it will be a chance to take a complete break until the new year, maybe even squeeze […]
On Sunday, I completed a ‘coach the coaches’ session at the Bredagh club in East Belfast. It was a very well received coaching session with a total of 15 coaches, both goalkeeping and non-goalkeeping in their make-up, as well as nine underage goalkeepers aged between 14 and 18 years old. Planning the session on Saturday evening, […]
IN 2015, my first year with Armagh, we played a challenge game against Dublin down in DCU. This was the first year of their five in a row. We had started with a strong team with a handful of our regular starters rested. Dublin on the other hand, started without a good portion of their […]
One of the most important aspects of goalkeeping in is being able to position oneself effectively in and around the crease, that is the area in front of the goals. Paradoxically, although it may be an important area, it is very rarely covered properly, if even at all. Having a good starting position is crucial […]
MY Levelled Progression Model is an excellent framework to use when looking to know what skills to introduce and when to introduce them. It deals with the different developmental stages of a goalkeeper in the context of their age and used correctly can massively improve the performances of any goalkeeper. In the sixth level of my progression model, it […]
Darren Devine is a GAA Analyst and has looked back over round one of the Sam Maguire race. Michael McMullan outlines some of his key numbers. POSSESSION is nine tenths of the law. How often have we heard it? The way football is now, it’s even more important than that. There are two main ways […]
“This compass does not point north… It points to the thing you want most in this world.” – Captain Jack Sparrow THIS is a quote from Hollywood blockbuster movie ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ starring Johnny Depp as the flamboyant and estranged pirate Captain Jack Sparrow. The film follows the serendipitous antihero as he bumbles his way […]
OVER my football career I have played in many positions. From defence to forwards I have experienced playing in every position possible on the field. In later years, from U16 up to senior I played at midfield until I was 24 at which time a took a four-year sabbatical from football. When I returned to […]
