Nowhere to Go

The saves that decide tight games — narrowing the one-on-one, claiming the high ball under pressure, and blocking from point-blank range.

Gaelic football
Goalkeepers · Any age
60 min
2–4 keepers + 1 server
1 coach
Effort 4/5
One goal and the 21m in front of it
goalkeeping
one-v-one
high-ball
blocking
shot-stopping

The PitchPlans coaching teamGAA Award 1 & 2 coaches

Kit: One goal, 12 footballs, 10 flat cones, gloves if worn

Warm-up10 min

Awake Before Airborne

Setup: Ball each in front of goal, two cones 3m apart. Keepers get hurt in the first ten lazy minutes, not the last ten hard ones, so nothing full-length happens until the body has been walked up to it in stages.

How it works: Hands first: fast taps around the ball, figure-eights, low scoops off the grass. Feet next: shuffle between the cones taking a chest-high serve at each end, feet never crossing. Then ground work in a ladder — from kneeling, fall and save each side; from a crouch; from standing at half pace. Only when the dives are smooth and the hips are open do we go anywhere near a real shot. Say it to the keepers plainly: earning the full-length save is what the warm-up is for.

What to say

“Shuffle, never cross the feet — crossed feet cannot push off.”
“Hands lead, start them at hip height, palms to the ball.”
“First dives from the knees — earn the standing ones before you take them.”

Easier

All ground work from kneeling; serves by underarm throw.

Harder

Alternate two balls so every catch is followed by an instant reset to the other side.

Activity14 min

Narrow the Angle

Setup: An attacker with a ball starts on a cone 20m out, offset to one side. Cones mark three starting angles — one central, one from each wing. Keeper in goal, spare keeper behind counting and feeding.

How it works: The attacker runs at goal to shoot or fist it home; the keeper's job is to make the goal small before the strike ever comes. Read the moment: come off the line as they carry, stay big and patient, and only commit to spread when they drop their eyes to shoot. Six attacks from each angle, then swap keepers. Round one the attacker must shoot from outside the 14m line; round two they may carry closer; round three they may dummy the shot once, punishing a keeper who goes to ground early. Front position first, then read the strike.

The technique, step by step

Read the carrier's head and hips as they approach — where are they going.
Advance off the line to cut the angle while they are still deciding.
Stay tall and set, weight on the balls of the feet, hands ready low.
As their eyes drop to shoot, spread big — long, hands and near foot to the ball.
Kill the rebound: any spill goes wide of the post, never back across goal.

Common mistakes

Diving early at the feet — a dummy leaves you on the grass and the goal open.
Staying rooted on the line — you hand them a full goal to aim at.

Rounds: 3 × 6 attacks per keeper — outside the 14m, then carry-in, then with a dummy

What to say

“Come and narrow — a keeper on the line is a keeper giving them the whole goal.”
“Stay tall until they commit — the first to move loses, and it should not be you.”
“Spread late and big — make yourself a wall, hands and feet, not a diver.”

Easier

STEPR: attacker must shoot from a fixed cone, no carry and no dummy, so the timing is predictable.

Harder

STEPR: attacker chooses to shoot or square a pass to a second runner, forcing the keeper to hold the moment even longer.

Activity12 min

Claim It

Setup: A server 18m out with a supply of balls to loft in. A single challenger stands in front of goal to make the catch honest. Mark a small cross of cones at the keeper's ideal catching spot so there is a target to attack.

How it works: The server hangs high balls into the danger area and the keeper comes to take them cleanly at the highest point, calling loud and taking off through the challenger's shoulder, not around them. This is the claim that settles a defence — decisive out, or a firm punch to safety if the catch is not on, but never a half-hearted flap. Eight serves each, mixing the flight so some drop under the bar and some sit up in front. The challenger goes from passive, to jumping with the keeper, to genuinely competing across the three rounds.

Rounds: 3 × 8 serves per keeper — passive, then jumping, then competing

What to say

“Call it early and loud — 'keeper' owns the ball and clears the traffic.”
“Take it at the top of your jump, hands behind the ball, snatch it down to the chest.”
“Not sure of the catch? Punch it long and wide with a firm fist, never dab at it.”

Easier

STEPR: passive challenger and a consistent flight so the keeper grooves the timing of the run and jump.

Harder

STEPR: two challengers and a driven, dipping serve, so the keeper must judge a harder ball in a crowd.

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

PitchPlans coaching team

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