DANIEL Goulding jokes that his body doesn’t let him kick placed balls off the ground any more, but he appreciates the skill more than most.

The Éire Óg forward built a reputation for his ball striking, so he takes more pleasure than most in watching Cork minor goalkeeper Rory Twohig catch the eye with his placed-ball kicking in the Rebels’ run to the All-Ireland final.

The Kilmeen-Kilbree shot-stopper is Cork’s top scorer in this campaign with 0-22 – that haul includes seven two-point frees, four frees and four 45s.

Twohig’s accuracy, range and temperament from placed balls is impressive.

‘What Rory’s doing is probably a bit of a throwback over the last decade,’ former Cork All-Ireland winner Goulding says.

‘The last fellas I’d have been thinking of are the likes of Bryan Sheehan, Colm O'Neill, Donncha O’Connor and Dean Rock. You don't have as many top inter-county players kicking consistently off the ground anymore. It's probably a bit more difficult. So, look, what he's doing is fantastic. It’s a big help for Cork and to be doing it at such a young age is very impressive.’

In his prime, Goulding was comfortable taking frees either off the ground or from his hands, depending on the distance.

‘Anything 20 or 25 yards in, I predominantly kicked out of the hands. The other advantage off the ground is the length, obviously. You get more distance, and it’s definitely easier to keep it straighter off the ground than it is out of your hands, I think,’ he explains.

‘There’s more of a gamble when you’re, say, 45-plus out of your hands. Everyone’s different. I found that, playing with Cork, off the ground suited me for anything 25 yards out to 50.

‘Then you see David Clifford, Michael Murphy and those lads over the last few weekends – they're comfortable from 45 yards out of their hands all the time as well. So it really is personal preference. You do see the goalkeepers coming out kicking a lot more, but that's down to distance more than anything. You just get greater distance off the ground.’

Daniel Goulding in action for Eire Óg.

He feels that kicking off the ground allows for a greater degree of accuracy and less room for error.

‘What it also allows you to do is take the wind out of the equation a bit more than if you’re kicking out of your hands. Off the ground, you’re either curling it or kicking through it, and the trajectory is different, so the wind doesn't play as much of a factor,’ Goulding says.

The secret to developing accuracy from placed balls, whether kicking out of your hands or off the ground, is routine.

‘There’s a physical routine and a mental routine, and what you’re trying to do is take the pressure out of the kick,’ Goulding says.

‘Kicking a ball in Croke Park is the same as kicking it down in your local field. You’re just doing the same thing over and over – repetition. So when a big moment comes, you’re so locked into just kicking the ball that you don’t think about the moment itself, because that's where the pressure creeps in.

‘Also, it’s practice. From repetition and practice you get confidence, and they all feed into each other. You can see the way Rory’s kicking the ball at the moment. He’s striking it true and straight, and nearly every kick looks the same, which is always a great sign.’