Puckout Battle

Puckout contests & transition

Hurling
Adult
75 min
16–26 players
1 coach
Effort 4/5
Two-thirds of a pitch
adult
puckouts
transition
aerial
match-tempo

The PitchPlans coaching teamGAA Award 1 & 2 coaches

Kit: 20 cones, 12+ sliotars, 12 bibs (2 colours), hurleys and helmets (players' own), a keeper if you have one

Warm-up10 min

Arrive & Strike

Setup: Written for a player-coach: set the two grids and drop the spare sliotars behind the goal before the first car pulls in. Warm-up runs itself — you warm up in it.

How it works: As players arrive they pair up and strike across a 30m channel, moving the whole time, never standing to hit. When six pairs are in, call the only instruction of the block: every third ball goes up high, and the receiver takes it overhead or on the break. Last three minutes, threes: one lobs a high ball between the other two, they contest, winner strikes it back long. Everyone jogs to the next block carrying a ball.

What to say

“Strike on the move from the first ball — match pace, not car-park pace.”
“High ones: eyes up, two hands, attack it.”

Easier

Shorter channel; high balls caught after a bounce.

Harder

Weak side striking on every second ball; contests become 1v1 with a shoulder.

Activity15 min

Win the Drop

Setup: 15×15m grids, four players per grid — 2v2 in bibs. One striker (rotate this job) outside each grid with three sliotars.

How it works: Striker sends a high ball into the grid. The 2v2 contest it: catch it clean or win the break to your partner. Winning pair must then work one hand pass and strike the ball out over the grid's far side to score. Straight into the next ball — three balls, then rotate the striker in. Keep score per pair across the block. You take a grid yourself; play, don't referee. If a grid gets scrappy, the fix is spacing: one contests, one reads the break.

What to say

“One attacks the catch, one sweeps the break — decide before the ball is up.”
“Break it to space your partner can run onto, not straight down.”
“Land ready — the ball is usually on the ground, not in the sky.”

Easier

Lob softer, lower deliveries; a clean gather off the first bounce counts as a win.

Harder

STEPR: 3v3 in the same grid; the losing pair may hook and flick to the end; score only off a strike within three seconds of winning it.

Activity15 min

Puckout to Attack

Setup: Half pitch. Keeper (or you) on the goal with a bag of sliotars. Two midfield pairs contest at 65m, two more players per team spread between the 45 and 65. Cone target zone 20m wide at the far 45.

How it works: Real puckouts, live contest, one job: the team that wins it must move the ball into the target zone inside ten seconds — carry in, strike in, hand pass in, all fine. Team that loses it hunts the turnover; a turnover that reaches the zone counts double. Six puckouts, rotate the contest pairs, go again. Vary the delivery without announcing it: long to the contest, flat to the space in front. Talk in one-word calls only — this block is about them reading it, not you narrating it.

What to say

“Lost the catch — hit the break at full speed.”
“Won it — head up, hit the runner, not the crowd.”
“First five metres after the contest decide everything.”

Easier

Puckouts thrown high by hand for a fair contest; fifteen seconds to reach the zone.

Harder

STEPR: add a sweeper who reads the delivery; zone shrinks to 10m; winning team limited to two passes before the zone.

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

House session.

Free on PitchPlans — new sessions weekly.