Hurling has radically changed since the turn of the millennium, with the game scarcely recognisable compared to the ‘grip it and whip it’ approach of years gone by.
very position has been revolutionised by modern coaching and tactical advancements, with the job specification being altered to place new demands on each role.
The number on your back used to signify distinct responsibilities, but what do those numbers mean today and what are the skills possessed by the best players in each position?
1 – Goalkeeper
“Goalkeeping has changed incredibly, it has become a possession game and keeping hold of the ball is huge,” Clare legend Jamesie O’Connor says of a demanding position where the ability to retain the ball is as important as stopping bullets.
“The strategy 20 years ago was just to puck it as long and as far away from your own goal as you could,” O’Connor says of one of the biggest changes in the modern game.
Possession starts at your No 1 as they will have the ball in their hand between 30 and 40 times per game, with Limerick’s Nickie Quaid one of the best examples of placement rather than distance with his puck-outs.
Former Cork ’keeper Dónal Óg Cusack changed the way the last line of defence was viewed in the early noughties and other new ideas have been adopted with Eoin Murphy one of many to use the sweeper-’keeper role made famous by German soccer star Manuel Neuer.
2 and 4 – Corner-back
“Speed and agility” are the skills Paul Murphy pinpoints as the most important attributes for a modern-day corner-back.
Pulling and dragging have long been spoken of as the dark arts of corner-back play with little skill needed to be effective, but the former Kilkenny defender insists the position has changed beyond all recognition as hurling has developed.
“The opposing backs and midfielders generally wouldn’t look where they were hitting the ball so if you could read what their body was doing, you’d have a fair idea where the ball was going to go and you could read it and get out in front of the corner-forward,” Murphy says.
“That’s totally different now because every player is looking up and the ball that’s coming into the corner-forward is made for him, it’s not made for the corner-back. That 50-50 ball is essentially gone and you’re very much reactive now.”
Corner-backs must also be comfortable on the ball as they are regularly used as outlets for short puck-outs so they “must be happy to take it and make good decisions”. It’s a far cry from bygone days.
3 – Full-back
Teak-tough defenders at the edge of the square are remembered in folklore with the likes of Brian Lohan, Diarmuid O’Sullivan and Noel Hickey adopting a ‘thou shalt not pass’ mentality.
Times have changed, though, and the No 3 could end up far away from his square with many teams implementing a two-man full-forward line which places massive emphasis on the speed of a full-back.
The long ball to the edge of the square is the exception rather than the rule now and while being strong in the air is still crucial, mobility is as essential with more movement from roving forwards making new demands for a full-back.
Galway full-back Dáithí Burke is the prototype modern full-back as he meshes together the skills of old and the skills of today to great effect.
5 and 7 – Wing-back
Long, relieving clearances were the calling card of half-backs like Offaly legend Brian Whelahan, but the emphasis is on a delivery rather than a clearance in the modern game.
Diarmaid Byrnes is a classic example, with the Limerick defender making major changes in his game to ensure that the team were benefiting from his possessions with aimless clearances now a thing of the past.
“Every back was driving it long unless there was an obvious player in front of you,” Murphy says. “That’s the way it was 10 years ago and it was perfectly acceptable and it was encouraged. God forbid that you’d strike it too long now, though.
“It’s a possession game. Why would you give a 50-50 ball when you could give an 80-20 in favour of your own team or pop it to a lad at midfield? The long ball is not extinct, it’s still there and it has a purpose but it’s Plan B, it’s not Plan A any more.”
Dominance in the air is still as key as ever while half-backs regularly make the scoresheet with Limerick’s Kyle Hayes employing his attacking instincts to put opposition forwards on the back foot.
6 – Centre-back
Still one of the most important positions on the pitch, but more complex demands are placed on the role, with centre-backs expected to sit in the pocket around the ‘45’ and protect the full-back line.
O’Connor outlines how “centre-backs always want to sit and read the play” but this places demands on others to follow a roving centre-forward with “greater responsibility placed on midfielders and half-forwards to track back and assume that responsibility”.
Teams rarely launch the ball down on top of the centre-back as they would have done in the past so it’s a much more detailed position with a lot of hurling intelligence needed and Limerick’s Declan Hannon is one of the best examples in the modern game.
Hannon is always an outlet for the full-back line and acts as a quarterback when in possession. Given their tendency to sit very deep, the centre-back can regularly slip in as a sweeper should it be required.
8 and 9 – Midfield
O’Connor underlines how “teams are trying to create space at one end and minimise it at the other” with midfielders playing a crucial role getting through acres of work, much of it thankless.
The battle of the middle third is often discussed as the winning and losing of many games with a huge concentration of bodies in that sector and massive physicality needed to get a foothold in this crucial area.
Murphy speaks of the chain effect a possession-style game must have on a team, including the midfielders.
“Not only was the corner-back’s role changed but the midfielder had to drop back deeper and take the ball off the defender, you’re no longer standing up the pitch or waiting for things to happen, the midfielder always needs to be there as an option.”
As O’Connor mentioned, the midfielder regularly covers a deep-lying centre-forward like TJ Reid, with Limerick’s Will O’Donoghue one of the best in the engine room - although he doesn’t always get the credit he deserves for his integral role.
10 and 12 – Wing-forward
Huge energy and athleticism are required to play the modern-day half-forward role as they work up and down the channels to assist defenders while also making their mark on the scoreboard at the other end.
Reigning Hurler of the Year Gearóid Hegarty and Limerick team-mate Tom Morrissey have taken this role to new heights but while it has changed enormously over the past 20 years, O’Connor feels winning primary possession is still a key duty.
“Ball-winning half-forwards are prized possessions, Limerick have them now in terms of Hegarty and Morrissey,” he says. “Tipp struggle at times to find guys that they can just puck the ball down on top of, to win it cleanly. They’re a precious commodity.”
Murphy also feels that one of the forward’s most important functions is to be a defender.
“A key job of a forward now is try and stop a defender being able to look up when he’s striking it. To give a back on your own team any chance of winning a ball, try to make sure that it’s a 50-50 one and put pressure on up the pitch,” Murphy says.
11 – Centre-forward
One of the biggest evolutions in hurling over the past 20 years is the role of the centre-forward.
While they were once predominantly known as stoppers, the No 11 now tends to drift out the pitch to disrupt the centre-back and do damage from deeper positions.
“That stopper centre-forward had a role to play because, a lot of the time, the opposition centre-back was the best hurler on the field and you couldn’t have him dictating things and pumping ball into the edge of your square. It was a different game,” O’Connor says.
A team’s smartest and most creative player is now often played at centre-forward because of the space he can avail of to punish a defence, a far cry from being told that “it doesn’t matter if you touch the ball as long as your man doesn’t”.
13, 14 and 15 – Full-forward line
Rarely are three players seen together in a full-forward line in traditional style, with two-man inside lines often the order of the day, and Murphy believes such “chaos” creates problems for defenders.
“Full-back lines don’t like chaos, they want stability, they want structure. No formation means chaos. A great way of working it is bunching all the full-forward line on the square and have them in there around each other, pulling and dragging,” he says.
“Limerick are excellent at it, they’re champions for a reason. If they see a lad shaping to strike, there’s no pattern to the way that they’ll break. Two lads might break left and one lad right and it’s chaos again. That asks serious questions of a full-back line.
“It also physically asks questions of a full-back line: are you able to cover running after a Conor Whelan or a Graeme Mulcahy over a 40-yard foot race? It does all the things that a full-back line does not want to do.”
Their chief responsibility is still scoring, but there needs to be so many more strings to their bow now and they are always the first line of defence when setting the platform for defending opposition puck-outs.
