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Best Free Takers In Football

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Rock is rightly so lauded for his brilliance from the dead ball the last few years and Beggan hit the headlines again last weekend for some fantastic scores too but who else can rival them. Cillian O'Connor used to be up their with Rock but has had a bad few years. Donie Smith seems to kick some very impressive scores from distance anytime I've seen the Rossies and our own Barry McHugh is a brilliant free taker but hasn't hit the national headlines yet but hopefully that will change in the coming months, think he scored 18 from 19 in the league and was 2 from 2 against Mayo. JDF (Galway) - Posts: 322 - 24/05/2018 10:44:08 2103476 Link
Replying To JDF: "Rock is rightly so lauded for his brilliance from the dead ball the last few years and Beggan hit the headlines again last weekend for some fantastic scores too but who else can rival them. Cillian O'Connor used to be up their with Rock but has had a bad few years. Donie Smith seems to kick some very impressive scores from distance anytime I've seen the Rossies and our own Barry McHugh is a brilliant free taker but hasn't hit the national headlines yet but hopefully that will change in the coming months, think he scored 18 from 19 in the league and was 2 from 2 against Mayo." I'd be thinking Rory beggan and mark Jackson and ye'r own guy (sorry can't think of his name now) but all excellent free takers from the ground. KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 24/05/2018 11:21:42 2103501 Link
Beggan has always had the length(remember the free he hit against the Dubs in the league a few years ago), but he seems to be really improving in his consistency and accuracy. A great weapon to have. McManus is generally excellent too. He did have a bad miss from a wide angle on Sunday, but when a pressure free came from the same spot with 65 minutes gone and the sides level, he nailed it. Outside of my own county, you can't look past Rock really. patk (Monaghan) - Posts: 936 - 24/05/2018 12:53:56 2103536 Link
Mark Jackson 0-19 in 4 league games. Wicklow only scored 0-66 in 6 league games. 0-7 from 8 kicks on his Championship debut. Ciaran Whelan thinks his name is Mark Kingston. Stealing a living. Do your research man! Wicklowman (Wicklow) - Posts: 1139 - 24/05/2018 13:24:04 2103544 Link
McManus and Beggan make a pretty potent free taking duo. Great weapon it is too. If I had to pick anyone who absolutely had to nail one in the last minute I'd still have to go with the Ballymun man, Dean Rock. MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13718 - 24/05/2018 13:56:34 2103552 Link
Brian Stafford. GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7360 - 24/05/2018 14:58:34 2103572 Link
Bryan sheehan dubinroyal (Dublin) - Posts: 73 - 24/05/2018 15:11:28 2103579 Link
Dean Rock is the standard bearer at the moment, that's pretty obvious. If Barry McHugh can stay in the side and improve his all round game, he'll be in the same bracket as Dean Rock. The lad is phenomenal from placed ball. Watched 2 club games of his last season and he was outstanding, hitting frees off the deck from ridiculous positions and with such consistency. I wonder are there any lesser known players not a county panel or on the fringes who is great at frees? You'll always have a few surely. Townee2018 (Galway) - Posts: 281 - 24/05/2018 15:28:11 2103586 Link
Barry mchugh is fantastic. We would not have reached div1 without him galwayfball (Galway) - Posts: 1678 - 24/05/2018 15:28:40 2103587 Link
Beggan's technique is very unique. The way he just walks up and without appearing to have any back-lift can just nail frees from distance at his ease. Very impressive. Free kicks aside I'd love to see him in training. With the power and accuracy he has I'm sure the Monaghan management are looking to benefit as much as possible. e.g. from kickouts, lure the opposition in by going short for the first few few. Then with some sort of signal have Beggan launch a howitzer to the opposition's 45. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9154 - 24/05/2018 15:36:19 2103592 Link
Paul Broderick. supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2908 - 24/05/2018 16:10:54 2103602 Link
Donie Kingston of Laois is terrific from the hands! BigJohn.6_8 (Galway) - Posts: 704 - 24/05/2018 16:47:38 2103616 Link
Replying To patk: "Beggan has always had the length(remember the free he hit against the Dubs in the league a few years ago), but he seems to be really improving in his consistency and accuracy. A great weapon to have. McManus is generally excellent too. He did have a bad miss from a wide angle on Sunday, but when a pressure free came from the same spot with 65 minutes gone and the sides level, he nailed it. Outside of my own county, you can't look past Rock really." This free? Go to about 0:40? I remember him hitting about 0-5 v Armagh in a Ulster semi final that earned us a replay, On top of that Scotstown had a championship in Clontibret about 2 years ago he hit 2 free's from an outrageous distance Dean Rock is great to watch, rarely misses and has proven it under pressure MonaghanGlory (Monaghan) - Posts: 738 - 24/05/2018 17:05:20 2103622 Link
Dean Rock is clearly the best, he's as good as there's ever been. realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8596 - 24/05/2018 18:07:38 2103646 Link
Replying To MonaghanGlory: "This free? Go to about 0:40? I remember him hitting about 0-5 v Armagh in a Ulster semi final that earned us a replay, On top of that Scotstown had a championship in Clontibret about 2 years ago he hit 2 free's from an outrageous distance Dean Rock is great to watch, rarely misses and has proven it under pressure" There's no link there, but I presume its the free where he was almost at the 65? And it had the distance to go further! I'm just waiting for the day when we get a free in midfield with the wind at our backs and Beggan has a go at it! Speaking about him playing against Clontibret, he got a point from play against us in the league last year! patk (Monaghan) - Posts: 936 - 24/05/2018 18:12:18 2103649 Link
Replying To patk: "There's no link there, but I presume its the free where he was almost at the 65? And it had the distance to go further! I'm just waiting for the day when we get a free in midfield with the wind at our backs and Beggan has a go at it! Speaking about him playing against Clontibret, he got a point from play against us in the league last year!" Wouldnt compare to any of the names here but Liam McGrath is brilliant on them, looking forward to seeing him going forward. Its more the fact he doesnt have a weak side, takes them out of his hands and kicks them left and right foot depending on the side of the pitch. Its a rare talent to have tipp11 (Tipperary) - Posts: 353 - 24/05/2018 19:53:05 2103663 Link
Barry McHugh of Galway and Monaghan's Rory Beggan was just sublime last Sunday.If only I could hit a golf ball as well as Rory Beggan struck the football against Tyrone.If only.45s and frees glided over the black spot with perfect trajectory. endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2170 - 24/05/2018 20:41:00 2103671 Link
Mark Jackson, best striker of a dead ball in the game at the moment. themaddog (Wicklow) - Posts: 130 - 24/05/2018 21:20:06 2103682 Link
Beggan looks to be stepping up to the mark as the top in Ireland at the minute for the long range ones. For me he has a bit to go on Brian Sheehan. Sheehan has been doing it for years and has landed some sensational scores. Beggan could surpass him but Sheehan still the man! Dean Rock is very close to perfection too and doesn't miss many. As for my own County, Mc Brearty rarely misses inside 40m but from distance Murphy has landed some sensational scores for us in the past few years. He does mis-hit a few though but lands about 80% of them. Tir Conaill Abu (Donegal) - Posts: 1671 - 24/05/2018 21:28:16 2103686 Link
The best free taker out hands in the game is john heslin. I haven't seen a better free taker on this island. XPAC (Westmeath) - Posts: 86 - 24/05/2018 21:28:28 2103687 Link