Championship Tempo

Two weeks out — train at the speed the championship is actually played at

Hurling
Adult
80 min
18–30 players
2 coaches
Effort 5/5
Two-thirds of a pitch
match-tempo
conditioning
tackling
transition
championship

The PitchPlans coaching teamGAA Award 1 & 2 coaches

Kit: Hurleys and helmets, 15+ sliotars, 30 cones, 15 bibs (2 colours), goals or cone goals, a loud whistle and a watch, water at both ends

Warm-up11 min

Rolling Pods

Setup: Pods of six, two balls per pod, each pod in a 20×20m area. Cones already out for the whole session before anyone arrives — tonight has no standing around in it.

How it works: Two balls always moving inside each pod: hand pass and move for two minutes, then strikes off the hurley as shoulders loosen, receivers always arriving at pace. Weave the prep in on your calls without stopping the ball — OPEN (hips, walking lunge with a twist while the ball rests), DRIVE (ten seconds of fast feet then play on). Final three minutes: pods split into threes for 20m accelerations — strike the ball ahead of your own runner, chase, gather, return. Last call before the vice: helmets checked, mouthguards in, tempo promised.

What to say

“Say it once: 'we warm up at the pace we intend to play — car-park pace is for the car park.'”
“Tell them: 'every receive on the move from the first minute — groove the habit now.'”
“Watch the touch counts — anyone fumbling twice gets thirty seconds of easy wall-of-two before the block ends.”

Easier

One ball per pod; accelerations become strides at seventy percent.

Harder

Third ball into each pod for the last minute; accelerations chase a struck ball, not a rolled one.

Activity15 min

The Vice

Setup: 20×20m boxes, ten players per box: six in bibs keeping the ball, four hunters. Two boxes running side by side, spare sliotars at each corner.

How it works: Possession under a championship squeeze. The six keep the ball with hand passes and short strikes, two-touch maximum. The four hunt in pairs — one presses the ball, one kills the next pass. Any hook, block, flick or forced spill is a turnover: the hunters' pack swaps out with two of the possession side on the spot and the count restarts. Ball on the grass may live there one second only — flick it, lift it, move it. Forty-five seconds flat out, forty-five recover while the other box works, six rounds. Count completed passes per bout; the record stands all season and gets announced every time it falls.

Common mistakes

Possession players drifting to the fence line where the pass options die — hold the middle, make the box big.
Hunters chasing the ball instead of the next pass — the second defender wins the turnover, not the first.

What to say

“Tell them: 'press in twos — the front man angles the carry, the second man eats the pass.'”
“Tell them: 'in possession, the free man talks — TURN, TIME, MAN ON — three words, no essays.'”
“Tell them: 'two-touch means your picture forms BEFORE the ball arrives — look twice, touch once.'”

Easier

Three-touch; hunters hunt solo instead of in pairs; sixty-second bouts at lower heat.

Harder

STEPR: 6v5; one-touch for the final round; a turnover won inside five seconds of the restart counts double for the hunters.

Activity15 min

Fifteen to Score

Setup: Half pitch to one goal with a keeper. Waves of three attackers start at midfield, two defenders start on the 45, next wave waiting behind midfield. Ball bag at the start cone.

How it works: Transition at match violence. On the whistle the three attack the two — fifteen seconds on the clock from their first touch to get a shot away. Goal is three, point is one, defenders earn two for any clean turnover or forcing the shot clock to die. The instant the ball is dead, the next wave launches the OTHER way against two of the three who just attacked — third player sprints off, so every attacker immediately defends tired. That sprint-back is the conditioning; nobody jogs into defence in championship hurling, nobody jogs here. Eight minutes, water, swap the resting third, go again.

What to say

“Tell them: 'attack the middle first — make the two defenders commit, then the hand pass kills them.'”
“Tell them: 'shot inside fifteen means decisions at speed — a good point beats a perfect nothing.'”
“Tell them: 'the sprint back IS the session — first man back saves the goal.'”

Easier

Twenty-second clock; defenders start a step deeper; waves walk back into the queue instead of defending.

Harder

STEPR: 3v3 with the third defender chasing from behind the wave; twelve-second clock; a turnover must be carried over midfield to count.

The rest of this session is free — along with 3 more this week.

PitchPlans coaching team

Free on PitchPlans — new sessions weekly.