Three Calls

Stop hoping the puckout sticks — give it a plan the whole team can read

Hurling
U16
60 min
16–26 players plus a keeper
2 coaches
Effort 3/5
Half pitch minimum, two-thirds ideal
puckouts
restarts
game-sense
positioning

The PitchPlans coaching teamGAA Award 1 & 2 coaches

Kit: Hurleys and helmets, 15+ sliotars stacked with the keeper, 24 cones, 14 bibs (2 colours), a goal

Warm-up8 min

Pods & Presses

Setup: Pods of four, one ball per pod, spread across the half pitch in rough diamonds 15m wide. Keeper warms up their strike separately into the empty corner with a mentor.

How it works: Each diamond moves the ball around its four points — hand pass, then strikes as arms warm — with every receiver moving onto the ball, never rooted. Every ninety seconds call PRESS and shout a pod's colour: that pod sprints as one to swallow the space of the nearest diamond, who must move the ball twice under the swarm before you call OFF. Everyone back to their diamond, play on. By the end they have felt both jobs tonight is about: hunting a restart and escaping one.

What to say

“Tell them: 'receivers arrive as the ball leaves — timing, not standing.'”
“Tell them: 'when we press, we press as four — one sprinting alone is a hole, not a press.'”
“Tell them: 'under the swarm, first idea fast — the second touch is where presses eat you.'”

Easier

Hand passes only; PRESS pods jog.

Harder

Strikes only once warm; pressed pod limited to one touch per player.

Activity14 min

Building the Menu

Setup: Half pitch, keeper on the goal with the ball bag. Cone out three target zones: Zone 1 SHORT — the pocket wide of the D where the corner-back peels; Zone 2 WING — the pocket in front of the half-forward line near the sideline, around 45m; Zone 3 LAUNCH — the midfield contest area at 65m. Half the players in position (backs, mids, half-forwards), half watching behind the goal, swapping every four puckouts.

How it works: Build three calls the whole team can read without a word being shouted. Walk each once at half speed: SHORT — corner-back sprints wide as the keeper places the ball, receives, and the nearest mid shows for the next pass. WING — half-forward drags their marker infield then breaks out to the pocket; ball goes flat and hard in front of them. LAUNCH — long to the midfield contest, with one runner starting their run as the ball is struck to eat the break. The signal is the keeper's set-up, agreed here tonight: ball placed then keeper stands wide of it = SHORT; bas waved once across the body = WING; no signal, straight routine = LAUNCH. Then live reps: six puckouts against a passive defence, then six against a live one. Rotate the watchers in.

The technique, step by step

Call 1 SHORT — corner-back peels wide of the D, keeper clips it flat.
Call 2 WING — half-forward drags in, breaks out to the 45 pocket.
Call 3 LAUNCH — long to the 65 contest, one runner timed for the break.
Signals: keeper stands wide = SHORT · bas wave = WING · nothing = LAUNCH.

Common mistakes

Everyone watching the ball instead of making their run — decoys win puckouts, spectators lose them.
Keeper telegraphing the long one by backing up further — the routine must look identical for all three.

What to say

“Tell them: 'read the keeper before the ball is down — by the strike you're already moving.'”
“Tell them: 'a decoy run is a real job — drag your marker with conviction or the pocket never opens.'”
“Tell the keeper: 'sell every routine the same — the signal is for us, the sameness is for them.'”

Easier

Coach shouts the call name aloud as well as the signal; defence walks through round one.

Harder

STEPR: defence knows the three calls exist and hunts the tells; a called zone missed by the strike counts as a turnover; add a fourth secret call the group invents.

Activity12 min

Win Your Zone

Setup: Split the half pitch into three lanes with cones — left wing, centre, right wing — 3v3 in each lane, bibs on. Keeper with the ball bag, spare players rotate in per lane every four balls.

How it works: The keeper may send the puckout to any lane, any height, no signals now. The receiving three must win it — clean catch or first to the break — and then move it OUT of their lane to a teammate in another lane within eight seconds; that completed switch is a point. The three defenders in the lane fight the contest and then hunt the switch pass. Defenders who force a turnover play two quick passes for their own point. Keeper varies lanes ruthlessly and keeps a private tally of which lane keeps winning — that is Sunday's information.

What to say

“Tell them: 'before the ball is up, jobs — one attacks the catch, one reads the break, one starts the escape run.'”
“Tell them: 'win it, then get it OUT — the lane that won it is the most crowded place on the pitch.'”
“Tell them: 'break ball lives at knee height — bodies low, hurley shorter, fight.'”

Easier

Ten seconds for the switch; keeper lobs fair contests to each lane in turn.

Harder

STEPR: 3v4 in one lane the keeper knows about — do we still go there or use it as a decoy; switch pass must be a strike, not a hand pass.

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

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