PATRICK MORRISON: The goalkeeping spectrum


OVER the past 20 years, we have really seen the evolution of the goalkeeping position in Gaelic football. So much so that we have seen possibly the greatest ever in Stephen Cluxton to the newest modern phenomenon of ‘keepers joining the fray. Over the past 20 years, and even before then, we have seen a […]


PATRICK MORRISON: The young goalkeeper


By Patrick Morrison CHILDREN are curious and insightful individuals who explore and learn through the process of trial and error just as nature intended. Their world is loaded with all kinds of imaginary games and toys. All a child wants to do is explore their world through the medium of play. And what child has not […]


PATRICK MORRISON: Goalkeepers first


By Patrick Morrison THE year is 2050, a father has taken his Gaelic football mad son to the GAA museum as a birthday treat. As they walk around the many exhibits and read the history of each, the next one they stop at reads ‘Stephen Cluxton. Dublin goalkeeper winning 18 Leinster titles, nine All-Ireland titles, […]


Hughes: Champions Armagh excited by Division One campaign


By Shaun Casey ALL-IRELAND champions Armagh meet Galway on Saturday night to kickstart their Division One campaign in a repeat of last year’s Sam Maguire decider. These two teams have built up quite a solid rivalry over the past few seasons. It goes back to that sensational All-Ireland quarter-final meeting in 2022, which Galway won […]


PATRICK MORRISON: Making not taking


By Patrick Morrison IN the modern game of Gaelic football, we are under no illusions about the sudden rise in focus on restarts. This rise has also coincided with the rise in importance of the goalkeeping position as a whole. What the goalkeeper can offer to their team has grown exponentially over the past 25 […]


PATRICK MORRISON: Who’s in goals?


WHENEVER I was younger, Sherry’s Field in the heart of Armagh City was our playground. A very large field that included five full tennis courts, a soccer pitch, a playground as well as some fringe areas for building tree huts and the like. No matter what the weather was like most of our time was used playing […]


PATRICK MORRISON: One-to-one goalkeeping coaching


By Patrick Morrison IN 2015, my first year with the Armagh team, we played a challenge game against Dublin down in the DCU sports complex. This was the first year of their five-in-a-row dominance. We had started with a strong team with a handful of our regular starters rested. Dublin on the other hand, had […]


PATRICK MORRISON: Training brain v competition brain


By Patrick Morrison WHENEVER a goalkeeper is performing during competition and performing during training sessions, they do so with two completely different approaches. The mindset a goalkeeper will have when they are performing during competition will greatly differ to the mindset they will apply when they are training. During competition the goalkeeper has a greater […]


PATRICK MORRISON: Regress to progress


By Patrick Morrison DURING the Korean War in November 1950, the 1st Marine Division of the US Army were surrounded by 120,000 soldiers of the Chinese Army at the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. They were led by Major General O.P. Smith, a native of Texas with 33 years’ experience in military combat. The Battle […]


PATRICK MORRISON: Go one-to-one with your goalie


By Patrick Morrison IN 2015, my first year with the Armagh team, we played a challenge game against Dublin down in the DCU sports complex. This was the first year of their five-in-a-row dominance. We had started with a strong team with a handful of our regular starters rested. Dublin on the other hand, had […]