Conor McDonald is a brilliant player, he’s not a brilliant free taker.
Some players love the responsibility that comes with free taking.
Players like Seamus Callanan, Patrick Horgan, Shane Dooley, Pauric Mahony, they thrive on the vote of confidence they have been given by their manager.
If these lads score an early free, it can be a good sign for their game. It can settle them down and ease them into the game.
These lads are deadly free takers. They rarely miss one.
Frees can affect a man’s self-belief in the opposite way too. Conor McDonald isn’t a comfortable free taker, he doesn’t inspire confidence.
He doesn’t need it weighing on his mind in a game. McDonald could miss an easy free, and it would affect his game negatively.
The 22-year-old isn’t like Reid or Callanan.
This much was made very clear in Wexford’s Leinster final and semi-final clashes so far this year.
Against Kilkenny in the semi-final, McDonald blazed two frees, that should’ve been routine, inexplicably wide.
This Leinster semi-final was a game in which McDonald was impressing. He was on top of his game, he was catching ball over Paul Murphy in his full forward position, he moved out to wing forward, he was hitting points from all angles.
His confidence should have been sky high.
It’s a confidence game, is free taking.
Despite McDonald’s impressive form from open play, he still wasn’t able to slot the frees.
The weight of responsibility that comes with free taking appears to bring him down.
McDonald’s greatest facet is his ball winning prowess. He’s ferocious in the air, he has a killer first touch, invariably, though, his accuracy lets him down, and that doesn’t speak of a free taker.
There wasn’t even much pressure on his last free, because as it turned out, Wexford had enough done to win the game, but the Naomh Eanna man still didn’t look comfortable.
He’s not a natural free taker. He seems to rush the lift of the ball, and is in turn off balance hitting the shot, leading to it going off target.
His club, Naomh Eanna, as former Wexford great Rory McCarthy revealed in Wednesday’s Irish Independent, appear to have realised he’s not a free taker. He doesn’t even hit the frees for them.
“I’d prefer if he wasn’t taking them. It affects his game slightly, it’s a lot of pressure on a young chap.
“He can miss straight forward ones. He doesn’t even take frees for his own club. Páraic Doyle takes the frees for Naomh Eanna. That speaks volumes.”
How can a man who doesn’t hit frees for his club hit them for his county?
On top of this, McDonald has admitted his own doubt about his free taking style, speaking to Newstalk after Wexford won the third of their three in a row Leinster titles in 2015.
“I’m the most indecisive free taker in Ireland, I don’t know what I’m at half the time, but thankfully it worked out today,”
McDonald has also shown a tendency to alternate between his right and left sides when hitting his frees, which hints that he’s not entirely confident off either.
Wexford’s most accurate player is surely between Jack Guiney or Paul Morris, so one of these lads should be hitting the frees.
McDonald is Davy Fitzgerald’s most potent attacking weapon. In order for him to flourish, Davy Fitzgerald should take the unwanted free taking pressure off him, starting with this Sunday’s knockout clash against Waterford.
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