The geography of the pitch has changed as hurlers play the percentages

So many teams now have so many good outside shooters that they don’t need to work goals, especially when three quick points has the same mathematical value

Waterford are one of the best teams to shoot from distance. In their recent league game against Galway, Calum Lyons scored 0-5 from play from wing-back. In last year’s championship, Waterford defenders scored 1-13 from play, including Lyons' goal against Cork. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

A couple of years back, the hurling coach and statistician Seán Flynn did a brilliant study on retention rates in hurling through analysing deliveries from different zones of the pitch.

From a series of games during the 2017, 2018, and 2019 championships, Flynn analysed 5,297 passes to highlight the breakdown in retention rates of those passes.