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How many matches have the Faithful lost for the lack of a specialist free taker? There isn't absolute confidence when we get a kickable free at a vital stage of the game that it'll be nailed.

Since David Reynolds left for the U.S. there's nobody who really excels in free taking.

Colm Quinn is admirably cool curling over frees from the right side with his left foot but there's no similar free-taker on the other side. Granted Mac lands the odd long range one which can give a great morale boost and Jimmy Coughlan is pretty good from his hands.

Fair play to Ciaran McManus, Niall McNamee, John Reynolds, Jimmy Coughlan, Colm Quinn etc. for having the guts to take the frees but I don't know if any of them would be regarded as or pride themselves on being among the best place kickers in Ireland at the moment (although maybe they could develop their free taking skills up to that level). One or two of the aforementioned might play better for Offaly if they didn't have to step up and take frees.

Should we nominate one or more free takers and get them practising day & night? Are any of the young lads deadly accurate from frees? Should Mac take the long range frees or should Niall McNamee mix them short & long like he did in Carlow? Are Jimmy Coughlan and Colm Quinn our best close in free specialists or should Mac, Shaper or Niall get a shot?

What are our best options?

Agree 100% Bogman - this has been a bugbear of mine for many a year - a decent freetaker wins you close games simple as that. There has never been a successful Offaly team that did not have a decent free taker.
I would even advocate the carrying of an average footballer/hurler who can bang over frees consistently. It changes your whole game philosophy - because opposition defenders are now nervous to tackle aggressively, the other forwards know that rather than shoot all the time, they can take on their man in the hope of being fouled.

IMHO there is no better free taker than David Lowry in the county, from the left side accross to right centre and as far out as 50/55 metres I've seen him consistantly put them over from the age of about 16. He is definitely the future free taker, if hes ready for this year is up to him to prove and the managment to decide.

If we were to drill this down another little bit, I would say that the problem is not that we split the frees between players, or that we miss a lot of frees, but that the players that have been taking a lot of our frees often tend to miss the crucial ones when the pressure comes on. Niall and Jimmy are two extremely accurate free takers by times, Jimmy in particular, but they aren't really the best at ones that are game breakers - which is after all a big ask of under 21 footballers. Remember last years U-21 match against Meath in Tullamore - I don't think Jimmy missed one all day, until he missed the chance to equalise on 60 minutes. The ratio was fine, but it ended up being another game lost because of poor free taking.

Colm Quinn has the icy veins, but sadly due to lack of fitness he is invariably either off the pitch or physically drained for the last ten minutes. Another case for him to be brought on during the game rather than start it if you ask me.

Lowry can clearly hit frees, but it remains to be seen if he's the guy who'll nail the 70/30 ones when under pressure. If he is, then he's worth playing, because for size and range of kicking alone he'd be far from a passenger.