Clear the Lines

The strike from the hand that clears danger and finds a teammate forty metres away

Camogie
U14
60 min
14–24 girls
2 coaches
Effort 3/5
Half pitch
u14
striking-from-hand
clearance
distribution

The PitchPlans coaching teamGAA Award 1 & 2 coaches

Kit: Sized hurleys, helmets on for every ball, size 4 sliotars (a ball between two plus spares), 24 cones, 8 bibs, 2 poles or tall cones for targets

Warm-up8 min

Range Finder

Setup: Pairs spread across the pitch, one size 4 ball per pair, striking from the hand to each other. Start 15m apart and stretch it every couple of minutes. Helmets on.

How it works: Wake the striking arm and find the range. Strike from the hand to your partner, controlled and low, and every couple of minutes take three steps further apart so the strike has to travel more. Keep the same smooth swing as the distance grows — the ball goes further because the swing is later and cleaner, not because ye belt it. Between rounds, ten flat tosses each with no swing, just to keep the toss honest, because a wandering toss ruins every strike that follows it.

What to say

“Tell them: 'the toss is the boss — flat, off the open palm, arm's length, every time.'”
“Tell them: 'let it travel by striking later and cleaner, not by swinging harder.'”
“Tell them: 'point the finish where you want it to go and hold the pose for a beat.'”

Easier

Cap the distance where the strike stays clean; drop the ball on a tee for a round if the toss is the problem.

Harder

Alternate strong and weak side each strike over the last two rounds; a moving start — two walking steps before the toss.

Activity13 min

The Clean Clearance

Setup: Groups of four at a lane: a server rolling balls in, a clearer, a token defender applying light pressure, and a fetcher beyond a target line 35–40m out. Poles mark a clearing corridor. Lanes side by side.

How it works: The strike a defender lives on — win it and clear it long and straight. The server rolls a ball in; the clearer lifts it clean or takes it from the hand, and under the token pressure of the defender, strikes it long down the corridor past the target line. The defender applies honest but half-pace pressure so the clearer learns to make the space to strike — one step away to clear the swinging room, then the strike. Six each, rotate all four jobs. Score a point for any clear ball that beats the line inside the corridor, a bonus if it is caught by the fetcher on the full. Distance matters, but a straight clean clearance beats a big wild one.

The technique, step by step

Win the ball clean, lift or from the hand.
Make a yard of space away from the pressure.
Flat toss, turn the shoulder into the corridor.
Strike long and straight, finish high, beat the line.

Common mistakes

Striking under pressure off balance — make the yard first, then swing.
Aiming for distance with a heave — a clean straight strike travels further and stays in the corridor.

What to say

“Tell them: 'win it, make a yard, then strike — never strike off balance with someone on top of you.'”
“Tell them: 'clear it long and straight down the corridor — height and distance get it clear of the danger.'”
“Tell them: 'a clean clearance out of defence is worth as much as a score — value it.'”

Easier

No defender to start; clear off a settled tee for a round; corridor widened and target line brought to 25m.

Harder

STEPR: the defender goes three-quarter pace; the clearer must clear inside three seconds of winning it; weak-side clearance every third ball.

Activity13 min

Find the Runner

Setup: A striker with a ball, a receiver starting deep and breaking into a wide channel marked with cones 25–30m away, a feeder resetting balls. Rotate strikers and runners. Two channels running.

How it works: Now the strike from the hand becomes a pass to a moving teammate. The runner breaks into the channel on the striker's call; the striker reads the run and strikes to the space in front of her so the ball drops where she is going, not where she is. It is a delivery, not a clearance — flatter, more accurate, weighted so the runner can win it on the move. Six deliveries, swap runner and striker. Count the ones the runner takes cleanly in the channel without breaking stride. The lesson: a struck pass to a runner is the fastest ball in camogie, and it is all in reading the run and hitting the space.

What to say

“Tell them: 'strike to the space in front of the runner — the ball meets her, she never waits for it.'”
“Tell them: 'weight it so she wins it on the move — a pass, not a clearance, flatter and kinder.'”
“Tell them: 'eyes up to read the run before you toss — decide, then strike.'”

Easier

Runner starts already moving at a jog; shorter channel; strike off a tee to groove the placement first.

Harder

STEPR: add a marker tracking the runner so the space is live; disguise the strike until the toss; the runner must control and clear inside two touches.

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

PitchPlans coaching team

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