Anyone noticed the trend towards both out-swinging corners and free kicks this season? Not so long ago, in-swinging at pace was the corner or free kick of choice but this season has seen a move back towards the more traditional out-swinger.
Apparently, coaches have discovered that if they place their defenders in the proper zones then it is easier defend the in-swinger. The defenders don't have to attack the ball as it's coming straight at them with pace, while the attacker is often heading the ball blind as he is usually positioned to head the ball over his shoulder. It made sense then for the coaches to reintroduce the out-swinger.
This column spent a while last week in the company of a central defender and he was of the view that it's both easier to defend an in-swinger and attack an out-swinger when he goes up for corner kicks. His take on the attacking side of things was that it's far easier attack the corner kick when it's coming away from goal.

"If the ball is hit away from the goal in the direction of the penalty spot it's easier to attack it as you can get a run at it, whereas if it's an in-swinger you usually have to attack it from a standing position," was his view, while on defending in-swinging frees or corners, he preferred to see an attacker set up an in-swinger.
"If you hold a good defensive line, it's easier to defend. How often now do you see those types of free kicks ending up going wide of the far post or landing in the 'keeper's hands?" he said.
Is the in-swinger dead then? Probably not, but its overuse has rendered it not quite totally ineffective, but the next best thing.

Mayo work in progress
It's not every day that a team that scores 3-13 away from home loses, but that was Mayo's fate last Sunday in Croke Park when they were made pay the ultimate penalty for the concession of four first half goals to Dublin.
There were a lot of positives to be taken from the game (the tally scored being one) but it's hard to get away from the fact that it was another defeat in Croke Park for a Mayo senior team.
Some supporters will look on it as a glass half full type of result but the last thing Mayo Gaelic football needs now is a moral victory. The team has all the signs at the moment of a work in progress and such projects require confidence boosts. Those boosts don't tend to come in the form of being on the wrong end of a close-run thing, rather they come when a team grinds out a result in the most unlikely of circumstances.
That could have been last Sunday but the opportunity was missed. We'll have to wait for another day.

Bang Bang Willie
Willie Casey didn't even have the consolation of a moral victory on Saturday night in the City West when he was stopped in the first round of his world title fight by Guillermo Rigondeaux.
It was hard not to feel some sympathy for the Limerick boxer, who comes across as a most endearing human being in his media interviews.
However, he was totally out of his depth on Saturday night, and Bernard Dunne, who felt before the fight that he shouldn't have accepted the bout, was proved right.
Casey has had something like only 11 professional fights, and while his opponent was not the most experienced of pro boxers, he had over 400 amateur fights under his belt. On top of all that he was a Cuban and a former Olympic gold medallist.
He was in a different class to Casey, and such was the power and the speed of his punches that the outcome was apparent straight after the first bell sounded.
Despite his protestations afterwards to the contrary, Willie Casey will find it difficult to return after the defeat. It will most likely put him well back down the rankings and he'll probably have to start all over again. He's not a youngster either, so it will test him.
He seems such a nice man that he'll have nothing but good wishes from everyone but pro boxing doesn't do either sympathy or sentiment. It may well prove to be a long and arduous road ahead for the man they call 'Big Bang'. Let's hope it all works out for him how he wants it to.

If only!
If. How often was that two-letter word used in the aftermath of the Ireland victory over England on Saturday evening in the final Six Nations game at Lansdowne Road (this column is attempting to reclaim Lansdowne from the marketing gurus who would prefer if we all called it Aviva)?
If only we had played like that in the previous games, it could have been such a different season.
That was the gist of the post match discussion but, of course, it makes no sense at all wondering about what might have been.
It was an excellent result and an excellent performance in its own right. It was a great way to round off what was an underwhelming season but it might just prove to be the perfect fillip ahead of the World Cup.

 

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