Marksman Ryan has Rebels in sights

In an age where defenders are getting faster, where hooking, blocking and tackling are again recognised as being among the most important skills in hurling the net result is that scoring in open play is becoming more and more difficult.

So it is that having a cold-blooded sniper in your ranks is becoming critical, a guy who can stand over a dead ball and, with the eyes of the world on him and opposition supporters baying derision, coolly slot the ball between the posts.

Patrick Horgan is the man for Cork in this Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC final, Colin Ryan the marksman for Clare. On their shoulders will rest the responsibility of converting the hard work of their team-mates in winning those frees. In their hands may rest the final fortunes of their respective sides.

For Colin, this is the day and those are the moments he’s been preparing all his hurling life for. So long has that been the case that he can’t even remember when he first became a free-taker.

“It’s hard to say because I would have always taken them. I would have taken them on county minor teams, I would have taken them on all the Flannan’s teams growing up and all my underage teams so it’s never something I would have developed or that I’d have put a lot of thought into. I’d just have worked on the mental side of things over the last couple of years to try and get a technique that works for me.”

Technique, he says, that’s what it all boils down to. Discovering it, then repeating it, over and over again.

“It’s something you always have to work on. I’ve done a lot of work with our coach Paul Kinnerk this year on routine and the mental side of things.

His enthusiasm for the whole thing is absolutely massive for a guy that’s no more than a few years older than most of the players. The ideas and stuff he brings are just amazing and the amount he thinks about the game and reads into it is just massive for us.

“To have success at minor level and U-21 level with Clare and now to bring that forward to senior level, we’ve an awful lot of respect for him in the senior set-up and things are going well.”

It’s not that Paul is any kind of sports psychologist, getting inside their heads and convincing them they’re world-beaters, says Colin. He just concentrates on the basics.

“I would have fallen back on him on a couple of things with free-taking and routine, stuff he has done a small bit of work on, but I wouldn’t say he’s a psychologist.

“Ultimately, when things are going well it comes very naturally.”

Certainly came very naturally in Clare’s semi-final win over Limerick, Colin finishing with 11 points from Clare’s winning total of 1-22, a nerveless nine from nine from placed balls.

“There was very little thought put into them when things are flying over like that.”

That’s the secret really, to blot out the thinking, blank the mind and let routine kick in.

“We’ve simplified it to such a level it’s hard to make a mistake with it. I line my left shoulder up to where I want to hit the ball; I place the ball the same way all the time, the ridges facing back towards where I’m picking it and after that all I’m concentrating on is picking the ball correctly and following through.”

Do that and even the wind is no longer a factor.

“If you strike a ball well enough the wind will have very little effect on it. Small variables like that are taken out of it. All I’m thinking about is lifting the ball correctly and following through. You have to step into the ball and carry your weight into it to drive the ball a long distance. Just make sure you’re keeping to the same thing all the time and cutting out the variables.”

That’s it then, the template for successful free-taking – routine, repetition, practice. There’s more to the Clare game-plan of course and Colin buys completely into the possession tactic as an integral part of it.

“It’s intelligent hurling. We’re trying to move the ball into the best possible situation to give ourselves a 70 per cent chance of scoring rather than a 50-50 chance.”

The sniper, however... cometh the hour, cometh the iceman.