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ive attended the last few league games and o byrne cup and noticed that the keepers kick outs are particularly weak , a good few mis kicks and hanging balls which suits attacking mid fielders, and although he has made a few good saves the kick outs need to improve ,i am wondering has anyone any thoughts on this

Mulhall's kicking technique isn't the greatest. He tends to smack it off the tee with the laces, with his foot straightened out (like you stretch it out on your tippy toes) meaning he has to lean back to get it elevated. When he gets it wrong by a fraction, it leads to those miscued flat shots that don't get over shoulder height.

In contrast, Padraig Kelly's technique is better, getting his standing foot right beside the ball and getting his toe well under the ball to lift it upwards.
He makes a more prolonged contact with the ball and gets more leg power behind it for the follow through.

Once a keeper can comfortably get height without having to force the kick, he can drop it into what area of the pitch he likes.

In contrast, Padraig Kelly's technique is better, getting his standing foot right beside the ball and getting his toe well under the ball to lift it upwards.
He makes a more prolonged contact with the ball and gets more leg power behind it for the follow through.

Once a keeper can comfortably get height without having to force the kick, he can drop it into what area of the pitch he likes.

If thats the case then why was Padraig never any good at picking out an Offaly player? Too many times Podge would kick every single kick out to the exact same area even when we weren't winning any ball!!

Mulhall has a decent kickout, but we're paying the price for not having enough of big men out around the midfield area to win the kickouts!!!

Yesterday against Antrim I noticed Mulhall responding to calls from midfielders and finding John Coughlan in particular a few times for marks over to the side of the pitch. He has a good touch for varying the angle and distance of kicks.

Phoenix wrote:Yesterday against Antrim I noticed Mulhall responding to calls from midfielders and finding John Coughlan in particular a few times for marks over to the side of the pitch. He has a good touch for varying the angle and distance of kicks.

ah i dont think so their now i just dont think the keeper is up to the standard of intercounty football his playing standards are not what we expect in offaly something has to be done

Remember Padraig is a former kick fada winner!

the Untouchable wrote:

In contrast, Padraig Kelly's technique is better, getting his standing foot right beside the ball and getting his toe well under the ball to lift it upwards.
He makes a more prolonged contact with the ball and gets more leg power behind it for the follow through.

Once a keeper can comfortably get height without having to force the kick, he can drop it into what area of the pitch he likes.

If thats the case then why was Padraig never any good at picking out an Offaly player? Too many times Podge would kick every single kick out to the exact same area even when we weren't winning any ball!!

Mulhall has a decent kickout, but we're paying the price for not having enough of big men out around the midfield area to win the kickouts!!!

Without James Grennan, Kelly didn't have much to aim at either. Though you could question the tactics and decision making.

I think Mulhall's style of hitting the ball lends itself more to miscues. He tends to strike the ball a bit higher and that occasionally causes mishit flat shots that fly only a few feet from the ground. He was presumably dropped for his kickouts last year after the Kildare game, as I don't remember him being at fault in his other duties.

All that said, he has been an outstanding performer this season and his all round game has improved hugely. He shouldn't need to look over his shoulder at other contenders this year.

[quote="Bord na Mona man] He was presumably dropped for his kickouts last year after the Kildare game, as I don't remember him being at fault in his other duties.[/quote]

He was poor for the Kildare goal, he came running off his line and then stopped and was left in no mans land. Incedentally Offaly won more of Kildare's kickouts than they did of their own last year...

Oceans 15 wrote:[quote="Bord na Mona man] He was presumably dropped for his kickouts last year after the Kildare game, as I don't remember him being at fault in his other duties.

He was poor for the Kildare goal, he came running off his line and then stopped and was left in no mans land. Incedentally Offaly won more of Kildare's kickouts than they did of their own last year...[/quote][/quote]
I couldn't remember exactly how the goal occurred, but taken in isolation I wouldn't have wouldn't have thought it a dropping offence. I'd have more confidence in him this year though.

It's early in the year but I'm hugely encouraged by how Alan Mulhall has performed so far. He has been absolutely rock solid under the dropping ball, he has pulled off his share of important saves and the value of having a footballer back there is not easily overstated. There have been some issues with the kickouts but they've been a collective problem rather than anything else - I think Alan has been one of the good news stories of the year so far myself.

I have seen very little so far of the team yet. But on Sunday he found his men as well as he could with the kick outs. Strangely enough though he did not come off his line for the flick on that led to the penalty. If he has been 5 to 10 yards off his line he would have easily made it to the flick on and cleared the danger, instead we ended up conceding a penalty. I looked to him as soon as the ball was flicked and he was rooted to the goal line. I think on the whole he has done well, and his kick outs are better for the team than Podges were. No variation, only difference was that they went further. Plus Alan so far, (touch wood!!) has not had the same issues under the high balls that crucified us for the last number of years.