IN THE 76TH minute of the All-Ireland hurling semi-final in Croke Park on Sunday, Eanna Murphy overhit his puck-out to Adrian Tuohey and it was gathered by Tom Morrissey.
The Limerick forward struck the ball between the posts, his fifth from play, to extend the lead to two points. It was a key moment, ensuring Galway needed to go for goal in the dying minutes of the game.
It was symptomatic of Galway’s struggles on Murphy’s restarts. 0-5 of the Treaty’s tally arrived directly off the losing team’s puck-outs. Three of those came in a seven minute spell midway through the first half as Gearoid Hegarty (2) and Diarmaid Byrnes mopped up possession and fired between the posts.
Peter Casey and Morrissy capitalised for scores in the second period, while Limerick sent two further scoring chances wide from the Galway puck-outs.
Overall, Murphy didn’t have a bad game. He made five important saves, including a couple of outstanding stops to deny Limerick certain goals in the second period.
But restarts are such an important part of the modern game. The goalkeeper will have the ball in his hands at least 30 times so distribution has become a crucial element in how a team plays.
Galway retained 67% of Murphy’s puck-outs, including all 13 of his passes to defenders inside the 45. Shane O’Neill’s side utilised a sweeper for the day, giving them an extra man in the full-back line for the restarts, but it meant Limerick had a spare half-back to compete for long deliveries.
Because of their extra body at the back, Galway were encouraged to play the puck-outs short and work them through the lines wherever possible.
On too many occasions the ball went to a free member of Galway’s full-back line before it was lamped downfield to where Limerick’s spare defender gratefully gathered it.
Limerick set-up on Murphy’s puck-outs with two banks of three and played very narrow whenever he went short – cutting off the space down the middle channel.
In the ninth minute, Galway got off the hook when Murphy played a one-two with Sean Loftus. The goalie tried to pick out sweeper Padraig Mannion between the lines, but the pass was brilliantly cut out by Graeme Mulcahy.
Unfortunately for Mulcahy, he the botched the pick-up with Murphy miles away from home and the goal at his mercy. Galway were extremely fortunate not to concede a green flag here.
But it was in the mid-range where Murphy really struggled.
Five of the 10 puck-outs he aimed between his 45 and 65 were intercepted by Limerick. It’s the zone where John Kiely’s powerful half-forward line occupied and it was no surprise to see Morrissey, Hegarty and Lynch finish the day with 0-11 between them from play.
Playing at left half-back in the first-half, Joseph Cooney was twice a target but on both occasions Limerick came up with the ball. The first of them was a poor Murphy pass that flew over the sideline.
The Tommie Larkins clubman has a bullet pass with a low trajectory and the vast majority of his short restarts did go to hand. Padraig Mannion and Daithi Burke were the main recipients with four receptions each just outside the 21m line.
The loss of Cathal Mannion to injury in the 23rd minute was significant as it robbed Murphy of one of his primary long targets. Twice in the opening quarter he was picked out by the Tribe netminder.
Joseph Cooney pushed up to wing-forward after half-time and his zone was targetted four times by Murphy, but he came up with the ball just once. That is no surprise given his marker Kyle Hayes is one of the best players in the country under a high delivery and the Limerick half-backs start to mop up more long ball in the second-half.
Just two of Galway’s puck-outs that went beyond halfway in the latter period were retained – one apiece from Conor Whelan and Cooney. Compare that to the first-half, where Whelan, Coen (both 2), Cathal Mannion, Brian Concannon and Joe Canning all came up with possession from long restarts.
Galway’s retention rate from puck-outs that went beyond their 65 dropped from 64% in the first-half to 34% in the second.
Galway did register nine shots directly from Murphy’s puck-outs, but seven of them arrived after long restarts gathered within striking distance of the opponent’s goal.
He often doesn’t get the kudos he deserves, but Nickie Quaid remains a central part of the Limerick gameplan. We were into first-half stoppage-time before Limerick failed to retain possession from one of his puck-outs, winning 17 of his 18 restarts in the opening period.
That’s a serious platform for any side to build attacks.
They registered six shots, scoring 0-4, directly from his restarts in the first period and four shots, scoring 0-3, in the second-half. Not one Galway scoring opportunity arrived off Quaid’s puck-outs, which shows how well he minds the ball.
Overall, Quaid had a 100% success rate with short puck-outs and the eight they lost all went long inside the Galway half. He finished the game with an 82% success rate.
Murphy is only in his debut season and has plenty of time to get better. Quaid, meanwhile, is at the peak of his powers and continues to make this Limerick side tick.
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To be quite honest sometimes these over analytical articles can be extremly boring and in this case harsh.
It’s easy to rewind and plough through statistics and come up with what we have here.
It’s very unfair to this young player to sit back and for all intent purposes put blame on him for Galway’s loss.
He made at least 3 great reactionary saves when Limerick players were in on goal.
These lads are amateurs and are giving us badly needed boosts during these trying times.
Roll on the 13th hoping for a great game and a Limerick win.
If we are beaten there will be no more deserving winners than the Deise a county that has given us great charismatic hurlers over time.
Looking forward to turning down TV sound and listening to J Mullane and Padraig Lodge on radio.
I really am old school !
Fair play to all the GAA players giving us entertainment in the last few months, let’s not judge them like they are getting paid or anything. Nothing harsher then a hurler on the ditch.
As if he didn’t feel bad enough. You’ve to do an article on the poor puckouts. Not much talk when lads miss shots on goal with no pressure.
I would be one of the first to critique his puck outs but on reflection he kept Limerick out at least 3 times . When did Limerick last not score a goal against a team ! He’s young and he is learning quickly . Huge responsibility these days on Goalies .Trying to ping balls over 6 ft 4 Limerick players is no easy job . On another note If they awarded the insane sideline ball score 2 points we would have won by a few points on the day.
@Finnster: it was only 2 weeks ago that Limerick were last kept scoreless.
Galway have plenty of big forwards to compete in the air. Also, they have a quality defense that did not require a sweeper. They were shocking tactics.
If you want to see 2 points for a sideline,go watch camogie. Every clown would be trying it with a lot of terrible attempts.
@John Buckley: who peed in your cornflakes
@Finnster: first season as keeper and learning a new system of play and puck outs. Misplaced a few but a few more were hit perfect just the receiving player either missed the catch or went with the hand instead of the hurl and went over his head. He’ll learn a lot from the KK and Lim game. Made some great saves and good link up play with his backs.
@Finnster: not young Murphys fault,fablous keeper, he was operating to instructions, he had to keep at it until told otherwise,no room for individual thinking in the game now.Mannion’s loss was huge,and the lack of anything from the line lost this one ,the body language from our Generals was terrible, nothing there im afraid.
@Finnster: Murphy had a decent game & looks very promising. Limerick haven’t scored a goal in the 3 out of the last 4 which is a little concerning because they have created chances. Limerick have been really hurting teams on the opposition puck out for a long time can’t blame Murphy it.
Very harsh on Eanna Murphy, who’s a super young goalie. Eoin Murphy who is recognised as as the best in the game came under similar pressure when he went short on Saturday night. At the end of the day Eanna was sticking to tactics that were given to him and although his accuracy and execution were exposed by the rampant Limerick press, the real failing was on the sideline to persist with kamakazi strategy.
@Mike Faherty: I should have left it to you Mick,didn’t see ur comment,thats it in a nutshell, lets not overthink this one.
Morrisey shouldn’t have been on pitch in 76th minute after his wild pull on Joe Canning
@SandraMeyler: Think your wrong there on a couple points , think you mean Geroid Hegartys tackle on Canning . And if you think that was a red card your better off watching soccer with the clueless RTE presenter Joanne Cantwell !!!!! And I’m not from Limerick!!!!
@Breandan Murnane: well brendain ,if lashing a lad in the back,with the hurley turned on its side for maximum effect,a sneaky aul cowardly belt,doesn’t warrant a red card ,what does ?
@Breandan Murnane: course it was a red card. Even in ‘the good old days’ of the 80’s, 90’s that was a sending off. It was missed move on. These things happen. Losing of the game was in Galway’s half back line and use of the sweeper.
@Breandan Murnane: you’re right about the red card but way off about Joanne, her knowledge of all sports is incredible and she’s not afraid to tackle sticky subjects, far and away best sports presenter on RTÉ
@Gerry Campbell: hurley turned on its side! Give over will ya, it was the flat has he hit him with. Even a full belt flat bas is FA to any average hurler let alone to one of the greatest It was everyone admits a terrible attempt at hook that he ducked out of at the last minute to protect himself from Cannings follow thu. It was only the non hurlers like Marty, Joanne and Dessie questioning was it a red. You might have conveniently forgotten to remember all former hurlers and managers said at most it was a yellow card. But what the hell would they know eh? Limerick far superior. Relying in 5 sideline cuts (brilliant as they were) doesn’t actually cut it
@Ado Smith: my friend ,you made my point inadvertently, former players and managers saying twas a yellow? So if it was an attempted hook,no card of any colour ,why yellow,striking with the hurley is a straight red isn’t it….and that was no hook,so saying yellow is a complete cop out,twas red or nothing….so I’d be slow to believe former managers and players public statments …..twas the simplest decision ever ,a straight red….
@Gerry Campbell: If it was that simple he would have got a red. The ref said he saw it as an attempt to block down. Not my words. Joanne Cantwell quoted the ref on Sunday. He ducked to avoid Joe’s hurley and hit Joe in the back. It was careless at worst. Do you remember Conor Cooney hit hegarty in the head in the first half with his hurley. Was that a red card too in your opinion? And ex players and managers know a lot more than you or me about it
@Ronny Phelan: not forgetting the job she did on Brolly…..think she’s quite good actually
I think people/ media need to cut him some slack, its an amateur game. None of us would like any of our mistakes highlighted in such detail. He is a great keeper who will continue to improve.
Omg that’s an awful blight on a young keeper facing an unbelievable tough task to find any of his team mates when facing the giants in that Limerick half forward line. He pulled off 2 great saves FFS! On a side note as brilliant as all Galway line balls were if any team realistically expects to stay in a serious championship match relying on more than 1 or 2 points from sideline cuts than they’re at nothing. Limerick also pulled back on more than one occasions when thru on goal. Wasn’t Owens best game by along way