By Patrick Morrison LAST year, I read an article by fellow Gaelic Life columnist Gareth Fox. The content of the article was focused on character and how a person can develop the character they wish to have. Gareth explained that those people who are seen to have a strong character are usually the people that consistently […]
By Patrick Morrison “Presence is a funny thing. If you have to prove that you have it, you probably never really had it in the first place.” Having a presence both on and off the field of play is essential for the goalkeeper. It is the tenth of my eleven goalkeeping principles and one which […]
By Daire Walsh ON August 27 in Aghabog, former Monaghan goalkeeper Linda Martin began the latest chapter in her extraordinary club championship story. Back in 2003 – in her very first year playing top-tier adult football – Martin was between the sticks as Donaghmoyne claimed a maiden triumph in the Farney County’s Senior Championship. Given […]
By Patrick Morrison WE all know how the importance of the goalkeeper has been magnified over the past 15 to 20 years but what has not coincided with this magnification is the amount of quality goalkeeping coaching for young goalkeepers across the country. I regularly find that the vast majority of goalkeepers that I am […]
By Patrick Morrison STEVEN Pressfield’s 2004 novel ‘The Virtue of War’ follows the life of Alexander the Great and his story is told through the eyes of a Hellenic-Persian scribe who was serving under him during his campaigns into India. In the novel there is a quote from Alexander himself which states: “Always attack. Even […]
By Michael McMullan HE may have been a major injury doubt, but there was never a question of goalkeeper Ryan Scullion’s involvement in Ballinascreen’s do or die relegation play-off with Lavey. Scullion saved three penalties in Friday’s shoot-out at end of a nip and tuck 80 minutes of action before Antain Donnelly’s winning penalty ensured […]
By Patrick Morrison 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 […]
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 […]
By Patrick Morrison WHENEVER I was younger, Sherry’s Field in the heart of Armagh City was our playground. A very large field, it 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 […]
By Patrick Morrison OVER the past few weekends, we have seen some excellent exhibitions of goalkeeping in numerous matches. Colm Reape (Mayo), Shaun Patton (Donegal), Niall Kane (Down), Shane Ryan (Kerry), Odhrán Lynch (Derry) and probably the best and most all-round performance from Tyrone’s Niall Morgan against Armagh in Omagh. All of the goalkeeping skills […]
