Mike Quirke: Trend of modern sweepers the GAA's version of keeping up with the Kardashians

Colm Cavanagh is the embodiment of the modern sweeper, influencing the GAA world as Kim Kardashian does fashion, writes Mike Quirke.

My wife and I were at a function recently, and a lady at our table was proudly showing off her new handbag to anybody who cared to look. It was from the Kardashian Kollection apparently, if that means anything to you. Big enough to pack clothes for a week-long holiday in New York. I mean, this thing was ridiculously oversized.

You’ve heard of Kim Kardashian right? She’s the one from that TV show ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’, the one who married Kanye, and who has now seemingly grown into one of the most trend-setting female figures on the planet today... Go figure.

She has over 71 million followers on social media through her Instagram account. And because of that staggering popularity, various companies and big brand labels apparently pay anything from $200,000 to $400,000 to get the pop culture mogul to post a single picture from her account advertising their products. Big money business, but marketing and advertising experts know it’s a smart investment.

We live in a copycat world, where millions of people all over the globe are heavily influenced by what they see promoted by these iconic celebrities. They have the power to dictate what’s in, what’s current, and most everybody else follows along like sheep.

In the GAA world, we’re really not much different from the reality TV watchers, and are as every bit as coerced by what we see the top counties doing, - our Kardashians if you will. We look at teams that have had recent success, examine their system, break it down, and try to impersonate it for our own use.

Recall after Kieran Donaghy burst into life as a gangly full forward in 2006, every village in Ireland was clamouring to find a giant to throw on the edge of the square and bombard him with high diagonal ball to see would it bring the same success. The big 14 was back in vogue for a couple of years.

Tyrone first, and then Jim McGuinness and Donegal changed the landscape and brought team tackling and mass defence into the equation, and again, every club and county team began replicating the basic template of getting numbers behind the ball. They were the two counties who made the corner forward as much a defender as the corner back. That tactic continues to profoundly affect Gaelic football to this day.

While some are content with impersonation, Dublin and Tyrone have continued to evolve. They have maintained an appetite to tweak their defensive strategies in recent years and are always on the lookout to refine the roles and positioning of some of their players to maintain a healthy balance between defence and attack.

Defending in modern Gaelic football is now far removed from the traditional days of the individual pursuit of the pre 2000s where one defender marked one forward, and did his best to keep him from scoring or influencing the game. It was mano a mano stuff with nothing but green grass in every direction. A backs nightmare.

Today, defending has developed into much more of a numbers game. One-on-ones are avoided at all costs, and space for the attacker is almost non-existent.

Last Sunday, we were presented with a masterclass from Tyrone again in the latest must-have defensive accessory; a dedicated sweeper. No All-Ireland contender should leave home without one.

Dublin’s Cian O’Sullivan, and Tyrone’s Colm Cavanagh have patented exactly how to play the position at its asphyxiating best. As soon as their team loses possession, they sprint back to take up their sentry role at the top of their defensive D, with no man-marking responsibilities, snarling and roaming their territory like a bouncer at a nightclub door. The basic premise of the sweeper is firstly to occupy that scoring zone and discourage kick passes into that area. That zone is the prime real estate from 20-30 yards directly out in front of goals, where teams have the highest percentage conversion rate of scores from open play. An effective sweeper scuppers that.

If the ball does manage to enter their area, Cavanagh or O’Sullivan are on it like a dog on a bone.

Double-teaming the ball carrier with the corner back and gnawing them into a turnover or a rushed shot attempt. No goals, and no fouls is the code the sweeper lives by. There is nothing more frustrating for a coach to see a defender who has help with him, commit a lazy foul and bail the forward out.

Their role is as specialist as a free-taker at the other end because it requires a rare combination of the athleticism necessary to cover ground quickly, coupled with an ability to read a game and anticipate the danger rather than react to it.

Kerry have their own copycat system in place with Aidan O’Mahony as designated keeper at the gate.

Mayo have toyed with different personnel in the role in the last two rounds of the national league but have yet to settle on a full time protector.

But both look well behind what Dublin and Tyrone are bringing to the party in terms of organisation and structure for 2016. Take Tyrone last weekend. Fair enough Derry didn’t look like a team who really believed they were ever going to get anything out of the game except a trimming.

But the Red Hand have their system so well-tuned that they are able to afford themselves the best of both worlds defensively.

Because of their workrate, they were able to get ferocious pressure on the Derry players with ball in hand around the middle of the field, but also allow Colm Cavanagh the time to get back and have a huge impact on the game as a free sweeper inside.

Of course, other players got back inside the 45 for Tyrone also and have specific assignments, but Cavanagh is the deepest, and is their chief communicator and organiser at the back.

His development and refinement of that role, along with Tyrone’s regeneration up front make them a real live threat to everybody in the quest for Sam.

This sweeper system employed by Dublin and Tyrone has taken endless hours of coaching and repetition to get it as finely tuned as it is right now.

Counties shouldn’t confuse keeping up with the Kardashians with just buying one of their big handbags.