Going GAA-GAA over the Jabulani

If adidas’ World Cup final ball looks slightly worn and weary at this stage, little wonder. Our intrepid reporters spent the week road-testing it with the finest GAA free-takers and goalkeepers in the country – from Daniel Goulding in Cork to Donie Shine in Roscommon, from Kerry’s Bryan Sheehan to Cian Ward in Meath. This is what they found.


SATURDAY morning in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and the Cork footballers have just finished an in-house training game ahead of today’s opening Qualifier expedition against Cavan.

Conor Counihan has plenty on his mind but when he comes across the Jabulani ball that has caused consternation for the world’s best players in South Africa over the past month, he’s glad it’s an issue he doesn’t have to deal with.

"That’s really the ball they use?," inquires Counihan. "I don’t how you could play with a plastic, light thing like that. We’ll stick to what we have."

Out on the pitch Daniel Goulding is ready to get in some post-training kicking practice. In a few hours time he’ll watch Mesut Ozil and Lionel Messi go toe to toe in Cape Town, and an opportunity to road-test the Jabulani is not one Goulding wants to decline.

He goes through his precise free-taking routine and whacks the ball miles over the bar. The Cork attacker quickly re-configures the distance he can now get on his frees. A series of other shots further out the field confirms one theory for the Cork attacker.

"The extra length you get on it is unbelievable because it’s so light. With that first free, I’d never clear the bar by as much with the O’Neills. My range with frees is about 45 yards, 50 at the most from goal. With this ball, I could have a go at shots from 65 yards."

Keeper Alan Quirke has been acting as ball boy during this time and is eager to try out the Jabulani himself. The Valley Rovers No 1 places the ball carefully on his red kicking tee and lets fly. After a few shots, he’s formulated an opinion.

"It’s very light but I don’t notice a massive difference in the length. With the O’Neills, I find once you kick it properly it travels very far. The benefit with the Jabulani would be with the short kick outs.

"You don’t need a big run-up to get length on it and that would enable you to take a quick kick out to a half-back who might be free.

"The other benefit is with the Jabulani is kicking a lighter ball on a repetitive basis means there’s less pressure being put on your core muscle area and your lower back."

With their warm-up period to get acclimatised to the ball over, now it’s time to pit the Cork duo in opposition.

Goulding positions himself in the D just outside the 20-yard line and cracks a few drives at Quirke. For free-taking and kick-outs both players have given the Jabulani the thumbs up, but now in this scenario they have misgivings.

"I can see how the ball is a big problem for goalkeepers," says Quirke.

"You saw what happened to the Uruguay goalkeeper last night for Muntari’s goal for Ghana. The ball looked like it was going one way, but it took off to the other corner and it was too late for him to get across to make a save. It moves so quickly.

"Then there’s the issue of trying making saves with this ball. When there’s a shot on goal with the O’Neills, I try to position myself to field it if possible. I think it would be very difficult to do that with Jabulani. It doesn’t swerve massively, but it moves enough that you won’t be able to catch it and you’d have to block shots. The danger I reckon is you’d end up parrying a lot of shots and the rebound could fall for a forward to goal."

"It might be an advantage for kicking points from frees, but it’s not a big benefit taking shots on goal," says Goulding. "Striking off the ground, it’s difficult to keep it on target and you end up dragging shots wide. If you do manage to get it on target, the ball seems to be rising a lot and it ends up at a nice height for the goalkeeper to block."

For the complete article ..... click here http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/going-gaa-gaa-over-the-jabulani-124670.html