Football Free-Takers (off the ground)

conno16

time to compile a best-of list from the last 20 yrs
it pains me to see some little twit kick if off his hands over the bar from 25 yards out and prance away like you've just scored the winner in a world cup final - e.g. conor mortimer etc

so free takers capable of knocking them over consistently from 45 yards out..

my top 5 would be:

1. Maurice Fitz (kerry)
2. Trev Giles (Meath)
3. Charlie Redmond (Dublin)
4. Colin Corkery (Cork)
5. Gerry Killeen (Clare)

other notable mentions could include: p joyce (galway), sheehan (kerry), mcdonald (mayo), sheridan (mayo), stafford (meath)

Some maybes could include: tomkins (kildare), manus boyle (donegal), carr (down), forde (wexford)

eigrod

Larry Tompkins in my opinion (played up to mid-90s so does qualify).

DoctaDee

Was torture watchin Stafford and Giles great free takers .... Seen Sheridan & Ward in recent years barely able to get it off da ground :rolleyes:

Current crop .. I'd have Sheehan, da 2 Cork boyos and Shine

bruschi

and dont Joyce, McDonald and Forde all take the majority of their frees out of their hands?

Oisin McConville was another good free taker.

davegrohl48

Little guys have no option but to kick it off their hands. There's a reason top quality players like Canavan and Colm Cooper kicked their frees from their hands.
They don't have the leg strength to be comfortable enough kicking the heavy O'Neills from any reasonable distance.
Look at yer list almost all big men with powerful kicks.
Sheehan would be top five. His kicking accuracy is close to Maurice Fitzgeralds.
McDonald was not very accurate off the ground. I thought Michael Meehan has been Galways freetaker off the ground at various times I didn't think Joyce was all that noted off the ground.
Matt Connor would have been top five as well he was very similar in style to Maurice Fitzgerald.

Temp Barry

conno16 wrote: »

time to compile a best-of list from the last 20 yrs
it pains me to see some little twit kick if off his hands over the bar from 25 yards out and prance away like you've just scored the winner in a world cup final - e.g. conor mortimer etc

so free takers capable of knocking them over consistently from 45 yards out..

my top 5 would be:

1. Maurice Fitz (kerry)
2. Trev Giles (Meath)
3. Charlie Redmond (Dublin)
4. Colin Corkery (Cork)
5. Gerry Killeen (Clare)

other notable mentions could include: p joyce (galway), sheehan (kerry), mcdonald (mayo), sheridan (mayo), stafford (meath)

Some maybes could include: tomkins (kildare), manus boyle (donegal), carr (down), forde (wexford)

Interesting topic.

Giles was a very good player, but I wouldnt have him on the list. Stafford and Redmond far superior freetakers IMO.

I'd find it hard to split Charlie, Stafford, Fitzgerald and Corkery.

Fowler87

Remember the two Maurices, Sheridan and Fitzgerld had a good battle to be top scorer in 97'. Both of them were extremely accurate place kickers

Fr Tod Umptious

Fowler87 wrote: »

Remember the two Maurices, Sheridan and Fitzgerld had a good battle to be top scorer in 97'. Both of them were extremely accurate place kickers

Yea but when it came to the final Sheridan could not hit a barn door from 21 yards.

Hammer Archer

Ward on his day is as good as anyone. I remember him putting a free over from all of 60 metres against Kildare in the league a few years ago. Unfortunately when he's not on form he can miss frees that you wouldn't expect an under 14 to miss.
Giles was a machine at frees. Really wished he followed Geraghty out of retirement in the mid 2000s.

padd b1975

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Yea but when it came to the final Sheridan could not hit a barn door from 21 yards.

Also in the latter years of his career he developed the tragically comical habit of going through a strict pre kick routine followed by slipping
on his arse on impact with the football.

Sadly we have to go back to Micheal Fitzmaurice circa 1989 to find the last consistent Mayo free taker from the ground and before that the only one that springs to my mind is Padraig Carney.
Young O Connor does show excellent potential to be fair.

robbiezero

Was Mauric Fitz the only freetaker that could kick off the ground with both feet to a decent standard?

conno16

while Gerry Killeen of Clare was reliant on his right foot he was also exceptionally accurate off the ground with his left - hence his inclusion above

bruschi

davegrohl48 wrote: »

Little guys have no option but to kick it off their hands. There's a reason top quality players like Canavan and Colm Cooper kicked their frees from their hands.
They don't have the leg strength to be comfortable enough kicking the heavy O'Neills from any reasonable distance.
Look at yer list almost all big men with powerful kicks.
Sheehan would be top five. His kicking accuracy is close to Maurice Fitzgeralds.
McDonald was not very accurate off the ground. I thought Michael Meehan has been Galways freetaker off the ground at various times I didn't think Joyce was all that noted off the ground.
Matt Connor would have been top five as well he was very similar in style to Maurice Fitzgerald.

Ben Brosnan puts that theory to bed. One of the smallest players around but is comfortable kicking over 45s and further out too. Its as much about technique as it is about physical strength.

D'Agger

bruschi wrote: »

Ben Brosnan puts that theory to bed. One of the smallest players around but is comfortable kicking over 45s and further out too. Its as much about technique as it is about physical strength.

What has height got to do with physical leg strength? You can be small and have more powerful quads/hamstrings/calves than somebody who's 6'3

I agree it's about technique but you do need leg strength

celt262

Ronan Carolan was a great free taking as long as he kicked the first one, if he missed it he always seemed to struggle.

bruschi

PaulieC wrote: »

What has height got to do with physical leg strength? You can be small and have more powerful quads/hamstrings/calves than somebody who's 6'3

I agree it's about technique but you do need leg strength

I replied to a poster who said small guys kick from the hands, I was saying it wasnt to do with height

D'Agger

bruschi wrote: »

I replied to a poster who said small guys kick from the hands, I was saying it wasnt to do with height

My bad man mis-read

DH2K9

Stephen Cluxton

davegrohl48

I'm not too familiar with Ben Brosnan but I assume he posesses a fairly powerful phyique? I'v heard him name checked on another thread on here I'm pretty sure.
The examples I gave and OP gave are Canavan, Cooper, Mortimer. More correctly phrased players without enough leg strength cannot kick off the ground comfortably from a reasonable distance.
Agreed some small players can kick but only if they're strong enough.
Yes technique is a given, have to have good technique or not a hope of kicking off ground.

Kerrydude1981

Enda Gromley of Derry back in the 90s was a fair man to kick a free off the ground,also Dara O Cinneide was fairly accurate with the frees,he used be able to bend the ball like Beckham

Het-Field

IIRC, Thomas Quinn used have a preference for the floor when placekicking.

padd b1975

Does anyone remember a guy called Frank Broderick? Used to play either full back or center half back for Galway back in the 80s or early 90s. The guy had some kick of a football better than any goalkeeper off the tee. This was in the days of all free kicks being taken off the ground and no quick frees were allowed.

rossie1977

derek duggan in his prime was a fantastic free taker (pity his prime only lasted 2-3 years due to injury), in 1991 he simply couldn't miss, that last minute 65-70 yard equalizer against the gale force wind to draw the connacht final in castlebar is still the finest placed ball score i have ever witnessed in person, frankie dolan wasn't half bad either in his prime, in 2003 it seemed everything he hit went over the bar, i remember point he scored against kildare that year in portlaoise in the qualifers was almost a carbon copy of maurice fitzgeralds sideline kick around that same time

we in roscommon are very fortunate to have two fine placed ball kickers on the team at the minute, shine and kilbride, two really talented free takers from the ground on this years minors as well in donie smith and tom corcoran

nice_guy80

Derek Duggan
'Steady' Eddie Lohan

Maurice Sheridan

Brendan97

what about martin mchugh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AdDIfB26WM

DiscoHugh

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Enda Gromley of Derry back in the 90s was a fair man to kick a free off the ground,also Dara O Cinneide was fairly accurate with the frees,he used be able to bend the ball like Beckham

yea you beat me to it. always had a soft spot for Gormley's free taking he seemed to put a sick amount of curl on all his frees.

as for the original list. agree with them all.

Stinicker

Bryan Sheehan, probably the best free taker in the country at the moment, he will punish Dublin for every little indiscretion in the Final.

Benny Cake

I couldn't give a sh*t if they use their mickey to knock it over the bar, surely all that matters is the result?

The_Kew_Tour

Stinicker wrote: »

Bryan Sheehan, probably the best free taker in the country at the moment, he will punish Dublin for every little indiscretion in the Final.

ya no player is close to him imo

Frankie Lee

No mention of Padraig Graven??

bruschi

davegrohl48 wrote: »

I'm not too familiar with Ben Brosnan but I assume he posesses a fairly powerful phyique? I'v heard him name checked on another thread on here I'm pretty sure.
The examples I gave and OP gave are Canavan, Cooper, Mortimer. More correctly phrased players without enough leg strength cannot kick off the ground comfortably from a reasonable distance.
Agreed some small players can kick but only if they're strong enough.
Yes technique is a given, have to have good technique or not a hope of kicking off ground.

wouldnt be big at all to be honest. probably at about 5ft8 as well, if that.



as mentioned, Bryan Sheehan is an unbelievable free taker, and could go down as one of the best in the game. great strike of a ball.

plasmaguy

It's definitely a dying art, with some teams resorting to having their goalies take 45s.

I think Maurice Fitzgerald was the master both from the ground and off the hand, and also from both feet, unbelieveablely naturally gifted footballer, probably the most naturally gifted of all time....he came along at the wrong time in Kerry's history though.

Mayo had a few good free takers in their day, Fitzmaurice was one of them.

Kerrydude1981

I know he has being mentioned already but Brian Stafford was a free taking machine

Cill Dara Abu

One of the best free takers i've ever seen

Gallant_JJ

Ronan Carolan was a beautiful striker of a deadball.

Syferus

D_Red_Army wrote: »

I couldn't give a sh*t if they use their mickey to knock it over the bar, surely all that matters is the result?

For one, players who are good off the ground are usually more accurate from mid-range and there's something to be be said for the skill-set in striking the ball and controlling in on the floor that comes with being about to take frees from the ground.

paul71

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

I know he has being mentioned already but Brian Stafford was a free taking machine

Stafford did have a flaw though, he kicked very much from the inside of the boot. This produced a bigger swerve which made him even more unreliable from the right hand side of the posts than other right footed kickers. As a Meathman I was always much more confident in Giles as he struck striaght through the ball.

I know I am going back more than 25 years but for me the best was Barney Rock, one of very few dead ball kickers who had the ability to kick consistantly well with the outside of the foot thus solving the problem of a right footer shooting from the right of the posts.

Duggan from Roscommon was also a favourite in spite of his short career.

conno16

if we progress further into the history books one must not ignore jimmy keaveney.
a unique style, but effective
is it true that he had to have his big toe amputated due to years of abuse on the football field?
i've heard this on a few occasions.

paul71

conno16 wrote: »

if we progress further into the history books one must not ignore jimmy keaveney.
a unique style, but effective
is it true that he had to have his big toe amputated due to years of abuse on the football field?
i've heard this on a few occasions.

Actually Keaveney had the kind of strike I was speaking of when I mentioned Barney Rock, a kind of stab that effectively used the outside of the boot as opposed to the instep.

It is the most effective way the kick a dead ball because the ball flys straighter without the serve that drags it wide in the last few yards, it is a very difficult skill to execute. Cian ward uses a similar style but is not as consistantly clean in the strike as either Keaveney or Rock were.

davegrohl48

Was going to mention Jimmy Keaveneys/Barney Rocks style of kicking which results in a dead straight flight of a ball with no curl. In soccer this style of kick is favoured by alot of German defenders/midfielders to deliver long straight passes that are easier for the receiving player to control. Keaveney seemed to be able to hit it from the 45 with little effort.
Not sure any free takers at the moment kicking similar. Most are using the Bryan Sheehan type of kick or something close to it.

Brendan97

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AdDIfB26WM

rossie1977

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

ya no player is close to him imo

there are some fine free takers around atm, wouldn't say sheehan is so good that no player is anywhere close to him, thats some score against the breeze to win a game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lDQA4saWfU

rpurfield

paul71 wrote: »

Stafford did have a flaw though, he kicked very much from the inside of the boot. This produced a bigger swerve which made him even more unreliable from the right hand side of the posts than other right footed kickers. As a Meathman I was always much more confident in Giles as he struck striaght through the ball.

I know I am going back more than 25 years but for me the best was Barney Rock, one of very few dead ball kickers who had the ability to kick consistantly well with the outside of the foot thus solving the problem of a right footer shooting from the right of the posts.

Duggan from Roscommon was also a favourite in spite of his short career.

i wouldve been the opposite and thought stafford was better than giles.giles always seemed to let the hill get at him in games against dublin where as i dont think stafford did.the names mentioned in this thread proves its a dying art probably underlined by the fact the most prolific free taker off the ground at the minute is cluxton!

bruschi

rpurfield wrote: »

i wouldve been the opposite and thought stafford was better than giles.giles always seemed to let the hill get at him in games against dublin where as i dont think stafford did.the names mentioned in this thread proves its a dying art probably underlined by the fact the most prolific free taker off the ground at the minute is cluxton!

eh, far from it. he is a decent kicker off the ground, but far from prolific. Sheehan, Shine, Brosnan, O Connor, Gould, Doyle, Ward, Clarke, Kilbride amongst others are better free takers than Cluxton off the ground. Cluxtons technique is only workable from distance, at a central enough point. a good kicker, and Dublins best option outside 40m, but if I wanted someone to knock over a free, I'd pick any of the above first. Its a new thing for Cluxton, and I wouldnt expect him to be reliable.

rossie1977

to suggest cluxton is the best free taker from the ground is not correct, i would put our young 16 year old minor midfielder corcoran against him anyday, just take these two placed balls at 10min 30secs (that was last second of normal time to draw level) and 14mins 20secs, last minute of extra time to win the game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvsdKsOYYio