Hurling Striking Styles

[faithfulman]

With all the debate going on in the Offaly v Dublin topic I decided might as well start a new thread altogether.
For clarification (using info in the link POTH posted and from personal knowledge),there are a no. of styles of striking.

1.Right hand on top(RHOT),catch ball in left,predominantly right sided - would be vast majority. e.g. Eoin Kelly Wat/Tipp,Joe Canning

2.RHOT,catch ball in left,predominantly left sided - this is POTH's "cackhander",not as common but still quite a few. e.g.most Offaly forwards, John Mullane, Tommy Walsh

3.LHOT, catch ball in right, predominantly left sided - just opposite of no.1,vast majority of left handers, e.g. TJ Reid, Kevin Moran(Wat)

4.LHOT, Catch ball in right, predominantly right sided - to my mind almost as common as no.3, e.g. Eoin Larkin, Lar Corbett, James Dempsey

Then we come to the "gripchanging" and i'm open to correction here

5.RHOT, Catch ball in right, right sided, rarely enough seen, e.g. Aidan Fogarty(Kilkenny)could be wrong though,maybe he's in next category

6.LHOT, catch in left, right sided, same as above, e.g. Peter Healion

For some reason, probably lack of coaching underage, no.s 5 and 6 are common enough in what would be predominantly football clubs. What i mean is i've often seen a junior or even intermediate team from a club that would be mostly football and a no. of players would be in category 5 or 6. Maybe tis is just my own view though.

[faithfulman]

While thinking of the various inter-county hurlers and their striking it got me thinking about striking distance and this led onto goalkeepers(mind tends to wander ).
Interestingly enough, as far as I know, very few inter county goalkeepers that i can think of fall into category 1 from above, which would be regarded as most common.
Offaly - Dempsey no. 4
Kilkenny - PJ Ryan no. 2
Wexford - Carton ?
Galway - Skehill no .2
Dublin - Maguire no. 3
Limerick - Quaid no. 2
Clare - Touhy no. 1, Brennan no. 2
Waterford - Hennessy no. 2, Power no. 2
Cork - Cusack no. 1
Tipp - Cummins no. 4
Fairly sure of most of these. Its interesting as you'd imagine no. 1 would give you most distance and power but very few of these strike like that.

[DAF]

I was style number 6.I am from a football club never had any underage coaching and it always seemed perfectly natural and much more comfortable to strike the ball this way.I am told this is an incorrect method and leaves you more open to be hooked and blocked.The other ways always seemed very awkward and uncomfortable.

[Bord na Mona man]

The obvious problem with a goalie holding his hurley with the stronger hand on the bottom is that they can struggle to switch the hurley across his body in time for certain shots.
Look at how Brendan Cummins (LHOT) nearly does a backflip here and still can't get hurley over in time and only succeeds in helping push it into the net.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfhQTBIDeHY#t=0m30s

Good penalty takers will always aim at this vulnerable side of keepers with this sort of grip, just as Shefflin did with Cummins.

[minor]

Very interesting topic. I heard that hurlers with LHOT that are predominately right side was developed at the very beginning when a child is 4/5/6 and doing ground hurling. Having the left hand top allows a right handed hurler push the ball forward because the don't have the strength to hit strike the ball as far when using the right hand on top and "pulling" the ball forward.

It's difficult to explain without holding a hurl and actually being able to show you all but its an interesting theory and one which would make sense. It shouldn't be as big a problem going forward as introduction of first touch balls and general culture change in using hurleys which are lighter and smaller seems to be happening (slowly!!)

And just for the sake of it, I'm somewhere between 4 and 6. I was nearly always 6 up to the age of 15 or 16 but tried to change to 4. However being righted I never had the strength and control in my left arm to solo with one hand. The advantage now though, particularly from a backs man point of view, is that I can hold the hurley in either hand when defending and makes it easier to get body position right to stand a guy up. This is just by accident more than design though.

I'm from a dual club and I predominately play football but do miss playing hurling at senior, playing junior instead. But the county board certainly don't make it easy to play Senior at both and unfortunately I wouldn't be a naturally gifted hurler enough that I would get away with being able to do both without putting a lot of work into it. I do miss it though.

[High School Musical]

You see.........striking a hurl is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman. First you make sure that your helmet is in place. Run your hands up and down length of the hurl to ensure its hardness, with an element of elasticity too. Then take a good grip, close your eyes, toss her up in the air and hope for the best. You can approach it from either side, but always make sure to practice on the bad side as to keep the element of surprise. Target practice is essential, so I'd recommend practicing at least twice weekly, and its best to vary up the location as well. It can get very boring looking at the same set of posts all the time!

[My Left Foot]

Cackhander - and proud of it !!!!

Now you should see my golf swing

[Lone Shark]

You see.........striking a hurl is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman. First you make sure that your helmet is in place. Run your hands up and down length of the hurl to ensure its hardness, with an element of elasticity too. Then take a good grip, close your eyes, toss her up in the air and hope for the best. You can approach it from either side, but always make sure to practice on the bad side as to keep the element of surprise. Target practice is essential, so I'd recommend practicing at least twice weekly, and its best to vary up the location as well. It can get very boring looking at the same set of posts all the time!

Swiss Tony Doran......

[Fargo Boyle]

I am guessing from your post High School Musical that you would practice a lot on your own!

[High School Musical]

A gentleman never tells...

[joe bloggs]

While thinking of the various inter-county hurlers and their striking it got me thinking about striking distance and this led onto goalkeepers(mind tends to wander ).
Interestingly enough, as far as I know, very few inter county goalkeepers that i can think of fall into category 1 from above, which would be regarded as most common.
Offaly - Dempsey no. 4
Kilkenny - PJ Ryan no. 2
Wexford - Carton ?
Galway - Skehill no .2
Dublin - Maguire no. 3
Limerick - Quaid no. 2
Clare - Touhy no. 1, Brennan no. 2
Waterford - Hennessy no. 2, Power no. 2
Cork - Cusack no. 1
Tipp - Cummins no. 4
Fairly sure of most of these. Its interesting as you'd imagine no. 1 would give you most distance and power but very few of these strike like that.

Plenty of them in the Number one category.
Just go back through the lads who have played for Offaly, such as Mullins, Stephen Byrne, Jim Troy, David Hughes.
Damien fitzhenry was also style no.1 and to me he is without doubt the best goalie in the last 20 years.
Davie Fitz also, Ken Hogan Ger cunningham and many more

[bracknaghboy]

Bloggs, what category would that bloke in your avatar fall into?

[Fargo Boyle]

Bloggs, what category would that bloke in your avatar fall into?

His style is quite common around the county and can be seen at most junior b matches at 11 am on a Sunday morning.

Its a fall out of the bridge house at 2:30 am followed by a feed of chips in the roma/supermacs/insert whatever chippers you like followed by early mass at 9:30 am with a head on you like a bear's arse style of striking.