Staying out of foul trouble – the three D's of tackling

A club coach asks: "I think we're going to see a major crack down on fouling in Gaelic football this year. How can I get my players to foul less and ensure my key men stay on the park?"

We talked to Paddy Linden who is a development coach in Antrim. He has also done a lot of senior club coaching in Tyrone, where the art of the tackle has been refined in recent seasons.

Paddy's philosophy on tackling has one central basis – tackle the ball, not the man. "The first problem with the tackle in Gaelic football is that players are not fully aware of the rules, and neither, indeed, are a lot of managers.

The rules of the game clearly prohibit all the slapping, punching, pulling and dragging that you currently see so often in football.

The motivation in any tackle should be winning the ball. I know a lot of negative talk about blanket defence came out of it but there are two moments from Tyrone's All-Ireland season in 2003 that epitomise all that can be achieved with legal focussed tackling.

The famous 30 seconds where Darragh O'Se was surrounded by a swarm of Tyrone players is one; every tackle in the sequence was legal. And then of course, there was Conor Gormley's magnificent block on Steven McDonnell in the dying seconds of the All-Ireland final.

Essentially, the width of a hand won Tyrone the title. Gormley's tackle was so brave and instinctive that it goes beyond something you can coach –the anticipation and timing involved was marvellous. But the focus was on playing the ball. And that's what I emphasis in my coaching drills.

There are three elements to the tackle:

1. Delay – position your body to stop the momentum of the attacker. Place yourself between the attacker and the goal. Usher the player wide or into the cover of a teammate. Stay on the balls of your feet.

2. Deny – get in close to the opponent. Cut down their angles and opportunities. 'Get in their face'.

3. Dispossess – keep your eye on the ball and work it. Get your hands in and out quickly. Don't leave your hand in and don't be tempted to pull.

The key is practice and discipline. Shown is one drill I use to get players tackling cleanly."

You can check out many of Paddy's tackling drills on ulster.gaa.ie/coaching. The Coach is compiled by Liam Horan. Questions to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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