RELYING ON INSTINCT SERVES MORGAN SO WELL
Petulance of early days has given way to a kind of introspection that is serving his game well
PRACTICE does not always make for perfect. Niall Morgan was due to return tonight to the Ballybofey school that delivered him the hardest of knocks when he was starting out, before the Coronavirus intervened to kick that journey into touch.
His rookie season in 2013 caught fire early and blazed at its fiercest in that spring’s league final when he top-scored with five points as Tyrone came within a point of Dublin.
He was singled out as one of the reasons why Tyrone would beat Jim McGuinness’ All-Ireland champions when four weeks later he made his championship debut.
It would be a chastening experience, he managed just one point – a 47-metre conversion with his second attempt – fuelling a fire he would get torched by as he cupped his ears to enrage the home support as he made the triumphant run back to his posts.
It has hard to marry that player with the more cerebral one who is now at peace with his game.
It was never more in evidence than two weeks ago when he literally kicked into the eye of a storm when scoring four points against Dublin, in a shooting display that leaned as heavily on instinct as it did on technique.
The petulance of seven years ago has given way to the kind of introspection that is serving his kicking game so well.
Like a lot of many lightbulb opponents, he hardly noticed the switch going on.
‘I spent a bit of time reading different books and I read a book, ‘Superstitionism’ by David White, in which he interviewed me for the book about kicking routines.
‘Within the book, he writes about how kicking routines should be null and void.
‘If you are missing with the same routine, then why stick with it?
‘Because it is a superstition, and superstition is all in the head so I went away from the same old routine all the time.
‘The likes of that game against Dublin with a big wind, what is the point taking the exact same long run-up to the ball, it is not the same kick?
‘Sometimes you need to shorten the run for a closer in [kick].
‘It’s more about how you shape your kick. And then for the longer ones, you need more momentum going into it.
‘It’s just playing it as it is, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach,’ he explains.
Even though most place-kickers cling to routine, whether that be the number of steps they take, or a readily identifiable comfort mannerism, Morgan’s eye has been drawn to those who trust their technique to the point they are not afraid to make adjustments.
He insists that the very best kickers are those who are not a slave to routine.
‘I think all goalkeepers can learn that it is more about technique in general, rather than this thing of driving it as far as you can.
’It’s about where you connect with the ball and we are using the green ball that some people used to get extra distance with than the regular ball as there is a wee bit more weight on it.
‘But the key is that you have to learn from everybody.
‘Like, Michael Murphy is one of the greatest strikers of the ball as well.
‘No matter how far out he is, he is able to just curl the ball over the bar.
‘You watch him and he wouldn’t be a stickler for the exact same routine and if he would just need to take that extra step left, he would do it. ‘I suppose it is really about playing it as you see it.’ It is that instinct which served him so well against Dublin, not least in converting a free from 30 metres out in the second half, straight into the face of a vicious crossfield gusting wind. He directed it about 15 metres to the right of the posts, and trusted the wind to correct its flight to gasps of admiration on the night. ‘Sometimes it is good to have a wind, because you know what to do. I had one closer in at the end of the first half where you were wondering if the wind was up and because I was unsure I stuck to my routine for that very one.’ When he has not been playing it as he sees it this spring, he has been playing it as he feels it. As much as he enjoyed his role in the win over Dublin, he squeezed just as much pleasure out of their win over the game’s other big guns; a game which was played on his home pitch. Morgan, along with his clubmates, Conn Kilpatrick and Darren McCurry lined out.
The latter kicked two huge points at the death, including a sideline conversion, with his family home in his sightline.
Afterwards, McCurry revealed how he imagined his late mother watching out the window as he kicked it over.
‘It was massive for us to have three players from the club.
‘It was more about the club that day than the county, for us.
‘We are proud to be wearing the Tyrone jersey of course, but we were representing a whole lot more than just Tyrone that afternoon.
‘The pitch is named after Conn Kilpatrick’s uncle who died in a car crash many years ago so it was a massive day for his family.
‘Darren, you know the story about him, and the visions he had with that last free-kick.
‘And the countless hours I have spent at that pitch.
‘My dad has spent hours there too, he looked after the pitch for years.
‘It was a very special day for the three of us and for the club.’
“You need more momentum going into it” “Sometimes it is good to have a wind”