HURLER OF THE year TJ Reid is one of the most profilic goal-getters in the modern game.
In the last two championship seasons alone, he’s bagged eight of them – four in 2014 and four more last season.
Reid’s philosophy on goalscoring is quite simple but far more difficult to execute, as he told The42.
“Any goal you score is nice but you always try and get a screamer, trying to aim for that crossbar and ping it down!
“But if I’m going for goal, I go low, hopping it in front of the ‘keeper.
“It might look good going for the top corner but I always go for the bottom corner because it’s hard for the goalie to get down.”
Here are TJ’s personal favourites from recent times:
1. v Wexford – 21 June 2015
“This was my first penalty under the new ‘one on one rule’. There was a lot of talk about penalties and lads missing them but I stuck this one in the corner of the net.”
2. v Tipperary – 7 September 2014
“Mick Fennelly won the ball and I got as close as I could to Mick to receive a pass.
I caught it and was surrounded by two or three players. I said I’d turn and hit it as hard as I could and it went into the back of the net. It came at a vital stage, early in the second half, as we were two points down at half-time.”
3. v Galway – 28 June 2014
“I like the one I scored against Galway in Tullamore, in the Leinster championship replay. It was a couple of minutes before the end and killed them off.
“I caught it, ran through, rounded the keeper and scored the goal.”
4. v Waterford – 9 August 2015
Eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed that before Reid stooped to gather possession for his crucial All-Ireland semi-final goal against Waterford in August, he even had time to quickly adjust his faceguard before applying the killer finish.
“I knew where the ball was and I had a glimpse of the goal as well.
“I was going to pull on the ball because I did see the goalkeeper coming out but then he stopped.
“I knew the (Waterford) lads behind me were after colliding so I knew I had time to fix the faceguard, rise the ball and stick it in the net.
“That goal was important as well but their gameplan was always to leave the ball run through to the sweeper (Tadhg de Búrca).
“I didn’t go for the ball, I probably felt that the back was behind me, he was going to play me and with Tadhg de Búrca going for it, I thought I could get the ball through in behind.
“It was one of the few goals that Waterford let in all year, that was a nice bonus as well.”
