Inspired by Ben Brosnan’s warm-up wonders on Sunday and a few similar efforts sent to us since, we’ve decided to send out a call to action for the deadliest dead-ball experts in the GAA.
2014 might be the year of the horse in China but as far as the GAA heads in JOE Towers are concerned, it’s been the year of the fabulous football free-takers, of players both known and unknown showcasing their ability to horse the ball over the bar from any distance or any angle. Take that China.
So far this year we’ve featured some magnificent dead-ball exploits from the likes of Carlow’s Paul Broderick, from Derry club footballer Paul Keane and from Oughterard’s Martin Coady.
That’s not all. Offaly sharpshooter Niall McNamee sent us in a clip of him scoring a collection of ridiculous points on the training ground, while Tyrone ‘keeper Niall Morgan’s response to a JOE challenge even merited a mention from Pat Spillane on The Sunday Game. Pat feckin’ Spillane!
On Monday we posted a video of Ben Brosnan kicking a dead ball over the bar from the Canal End end-line prior to Wexford’s clash with Dublin and that prompted JOE readers to send us even more examples of similar exploits at GAA grounds around the country (more on those below).
With that in mind, and given the flood of footage we’ve already received to date, we’ve decided to put out an official call to action to all the Gaelic Football dead ball experts out there to replicate what Ben Brosnan did on Sunday, send us in their efforts and we’ll reward the best of the best with a collection of cobbled-together goodies from the JOE office.
We were also in touch with Ben himself, who kindly agreed to send us on a pair of gloves from a range of sportswear he’s launching called BodiBro; check out the website here.
Think you’re up to it? Here’s what we want:
- A short video clip of you or a mate swinging a ball over the bar from the ground from the end-line, similar to this effort from Ben Brosnan on Sunday. Ben wasn’t exactly on the dead-ball line, but the closer you are to it, the better. Hell, if you go a little beyond it we’ll be even more impressed.
- A YouTube file is far more convenient from our point of view. Besides, if your baby goes viral, you could be pushing grumpy cats and screaming goats aside to the be the next Internet sensation and reaping in the royalties.
- The more flamboyant, the better. Sure, your average curler from right on the end-line is impressive, but an ability, for example, to compete the challenge with both feet, or with the outside of one’s boot, will earn extra brownie points.
- Artistic impression is everything. We just don’t want dead-ball experts; we want characters. So while the effort from Roscommon under-21’keeper Colm Lavin in the video below is impressive, the one that follows from Brosnan imitator from Ocurrys in west Clare. James Troy, complete with celebratory tumble afterwards, will win more points in our book. Be creative about it; do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight sing a song, recite a celebratory poem if you want. Basically, the greater the Wow factor, the better, but please, keep it clean folks.
- Send us in your entry to [email protected], to Facebook or to Twitter with all the necessary details (name, club, county, etc.).
And that’s about it. We eagerly await your entries, folks.
