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Instant memory loss is Niall Morgan's secret | Billy Joe Padden

Billy Joe Padden and Mike Quirke joined Nathan Murphy in the aftermath of Mayo's loss to Tyrone i...



Instant memory loss is Niall M...
Football

Instant memory loss is Niall Morgan's secret | Billy Joe Padden

Billy Joe Padden and Mike Quirke joined Nathan Murphy in the aftermath of Mayo's loss to Tyrone in the All-Ireland Final.

The two analysts dissected the impact and kickout strategies of Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan.

Morgan played a pivotal role in Tyrone's comprehensive victory over Mayo by contributing out the field and by executing his kickouts to set up scoring opportunities. Padden explained the value in Morgan's mentality.

"If you're a goalkeeper or a free taker or a forward, instant memory loss is a very useful trait to have," Padden said.

"He put those mistakes of his past behind him very quickly, it hasn't in any way effected the way he's played the game. He plays on the front foot. He likes to attack the ball as much as he can.

He's a really good footballer.

Obviously it's been well detailed now that he plays a lot of club football out the field, he's very comfortable out the field in those situations."

While Padden praised Morgan's effectiveness in every facet of the game, he also made sure to note that kickouts are a collective effort and the credit for Tyrone's success should be spread out to all involved.

"Maybe too much focus is put on a goalkeeper in relation to a kickout strategy. I think you have to give the whole team, the management team as well as Morgan the credit for the way they were able to deal with their own kickout and maybe doing it in a different way than teams have over the last couple of seasons."

Tyrone were able to pull Mayo's ball-winning players away from their kickouts and strategically pick the matchups that worked for them. It's a high level of execution that permeated through the whole team.

Padden was quick to praise the way in which Tyrone set up their scores.

"There's no doubt that the Tyrone players have a very high skill level. They executed really well.

I think there is an element though if you're getting your scoring opportunities from quicker ball, from a counter-attack, maybe from a quick switch of play, it's that bit easier. You've a bit more space to get a shot away and you're more comfortable taking it.

Whereas a lot of the shots that Mayo were taking were following slow, laboured build-up where they were under pressure.

You can't make too many excuses for it because in terms of where Mayo where taking the shots from in many instances was the right decisions, the right thing to do it was just pure poor execution."

The hope for Mayo is that young players developing and the returning Cillian O'Connor will set them up better for next season.

"It's difficult sometimes. You don't want to blame players, they're putting their hand up, they're taking shots, they're showing that responsibility. Sometimes you have to move it on when it's not your day and try to find a fella whose in better form and unfortunately for Mayo the last 20 minutes there were not too many players there that were really on top of their game.

There were just too many players not executing at a high enough level.

It's a bit harsh to be too critical of Tommy Conroy or Ryan O'Donoghue considering how young they are in their intercounty careers...it will be about adding to their attributes in their development."

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