On their way to winning the championship in 2015, the Irish rugby team suffered their only loss in the Six Nations away to Wales in a game that the stats show they dominated.
In reflecting on the reasons for their defeat, Joe Schmidt lamented: "Obviously we’re very disappointed, we felt we probably did enough to win the game but those fine margins got away on us. We didn’t help ourselves and we’ve only got ourselves to blame. We weren’t as accurate as we would have liked to have been and part of that is the Welsh pressure."
Accuracy with your basic skills under pressure is fundamental to playing any field sport to a high level.
Round two of the Super 8s brought the concept to life last weekend with three clashes that went down the stretch and separated teams only by very fine margins.
Those games were physically uncompromising and displayed all the qualities that are vital to playing football well. It was ultimately those who could execute when it really mattered that dictated the outcome.
In reality, very little separates the top six teams in the country. There is a school of thought that Dublin are well out in front but that is not convincingly the case when you look at their margins of victory against the next best team in each of their five recent All-Ireland victories.
They have prevailed with four single-point, and one single-goal, victories, which would indicate that this Dublin team find a way to do more than their opponents when it really matters.
When the clock ticked into the 74th minute in Clones last Sunday, Kerry were panicked but still playing. Ultimately they would be rescued by what was largely a roll of the dice but it succeeded because the ball arrived with the player they wanted when it was needed and ability took care of the rest.
Kerry get a goal at the death to equalise in Clones! What a game! Make sure to watch all the highlights tonight on the Sunday Game. #RTEGAA pic.twitter.com/UYF6lANFhQ
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 22, 2018
David Clifford had seconds to anticipate a possible break off the flight of the ball and drift to where he might profit. There were then micro seconds to control the break he had seen coming and execute the only finish that could have found the net.
Before the 70th minute, Kerry never once looked to create space for a flatter delivery onto the square and so deprived Kieran Donaghy of a supply line that he consistently creates havoc from.
But when it mattered – whether by accident or design – they leaned towards the strengths of the players they instinctively trusted. James O’Donoghue, Donaghy and Clifford executed their skills clinically and accurately under extreme pressure to save Kerry’s season for now.
Having just taken a potentially fatal body blow, Monaghan were not panicked. They worked a kick out and built an attack that sent Darren Hughes bearing down on the Kerry goal crossing the 21-yard line, 20 yards left of centre. It was perfect execution from the team to create a match-winning scenario.
What happened next was influenced massively by the situation, the clock and therefore the pressure.
Hughes could have driven at goal and dared a desperate Anthony Maher to tackle him or, more likely knowing his technical ability, stepped left to finish the game with a left-footed hook shot.
How often have these players nonchalantly shot off their weaker side, offloaded to a runner at pace and snapped loose ball off the ground perfectly over many years of developing their game?
Instead he took a third option, cutting inside towards scrambling defenders and attempted an offload to create a more sure shooting opportunity.
The execution of that handpass seems so simple now and in hindsight will frustrate Darren Hughes immensely. Dessie Mone bravely kept possession alive but Eoghan Duffy could not execute a clean pick up with two Kerry men bearing down on him.
Monaghan supporters might have swapped a lot of possessions to have Conor McManus come onto that ball.
How often have these players nonchalantly shot off their weaker side, offloaded to a runner at pace and snapped loose ball off the ground perfectly over many years of developing their game? Too many to count of course and so we are left to consider the effects to that environment and pressure on their accuracy.
So what separates teams and individuals on the battle ground when everyone’s next steps are decisive? Putting teams and players in that position in the first place requires an army of support and detailed planning but when the clock ticks towards seventy and the scoreboard is overbearing the difference makers will come to the fore.
Watching the final moments in Clones I was reminded of two well-used quotes from Michael Jordan relating to the reputation he acquired late in his career as the man to go to when the team needed a cool head and a clinical execution.
"I have failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed".
And, "You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take".
We can all list off the names of difference makers in our lifetimes of watching football. Without much thought Maurice Fitzgerald, Peter Canavan, Padraig Joyce, Oisín McConville and Diarmuid Connolly come to mind and they each carry reverence with their people because they were relied upon to get it done when it counts.
These players transcend the notional "marquee forward" status afforded to a heavy scorer because they don’t just score heavily – they appeared when they were most needed.
The argument that these players are naturals or that their qualities cannot be nurtured and influenced is fundamentally counterintuitive.
There are two key traits to those players’ make up. The first is their technical ability, to which there is no short cut. They all have every skill in the game and – crucially – are excellent off both sides.
There is no short cut to this and certainly it isn’t bestowed from above. These players created this ability for themselves through many hours of deliberate practice, trial, error and determination. David Clifford could not hope for any game-defining opportunity to fall to his left foot any more than Darren Hughes could for one to fall to his right.
Coaches involved anywhere along the pathway from participation to performance cannot lose sight of the importance of creating regular opportunities to develop the most basic skills of the game at pace and under pressure.
The second trait is a skill that is more difficult to identify. It is related to mental toughness, confidence and belligerence. When the moment arrives, the difference maker knows he’s the man to execute and everyone else knows it too.
This rare quality is forged like any skill over years and seasons of playing hard and putting yourself in those positions to get some right and some wrong. Without looking at all I am confident that all of these players – like Michael Jordan – have missed more clutch opportunities than they have nailed.
It is part of the journey but developing players need help to recognise that.
Young players in particular can go into their shell once they make mistakes under pressure and crucial passages in games then become times to hide.
Coaches have a vital role in encouraging players to put themselves out there and be proactive when it matters most. It is only through that process that any player can believe in themselves when it really counts for the team.
As importantly, others recognise that trait in a player and reinforce their status by looking for them when the time comes.
In the Ulster semi-final earlier this year with seconds of the advertised five minutes of injury time to play, Conor McManus raced onto a handpass on the opposition 45.
Fermanagh led by a single point and Monaghan held possession to wait for their talisman to loop out from his station close to goal. McManus drove past his marker and stepped right to shoot from a 45-degree angle about 35 yards from the posts. The shot tailed wide and a provincial championship slipped from Monaghan’s grasp.
Will that missed opportunity define Conor McManus and deter him from appearing when needed most again? I would think not. It’s a crucial part of why he makes a difference for Monaghan.
As the inaugural Super 8s reaches a crescendo this weekend, Salthill, Ballybofey and Killarney will witness defining championship battles.
Playing under pressure will be a given but when the time arrives everyone will be looking for the difference makers – not least their team-mates.
