Should Henderson take more selfish approach?

In the crucial dying minutes he made a superb supporting run just yards in front of midfielder turned attacker Charlie Vernon.

Henderson angled his body, opened his chest for a pass and, most importantly, prepared to blast the ball to the net when the pass arrived.

Vernon had weighed up the options, yet decided to attempt to crash through two defenders and, as a result, fluffed the chance to secure what would have been a match winning score. Had the Clanns man been utilised, Armagh would have secured all two points.

In retrospect, the career of All-Star Diarmaid Marsden contained a period similar to that being experienced by Henderson at this time.

Marsden, like the legendary George Best when hacked by ‘Chopper’ Harris in a muddy Stamford Bridge some years ago, hated to go down. Marsden hated to fall too easily, an art which secured accolades for many other well-known players. Kieran McGeeney once commented that Marsden was the “most honest player” he knew who “would never go down looking for a foul”.

Ryan Henderson, considering his physical build, has attributes slightly different to Marsden but is, in real terms, no less honest. The Clann ireann player is a specialist in a style somewhat similar to that of legendary Kerryman Mikey Sheehy. Sheehy floated just outside the quagmire of the rough and tumble, where players like Ger Power or John Egan thrived, but his teammates would, with precise passing, find Sheehy who would be making the runs.

Intelligence in a player is an attribute which cannot be drilled in through years of development squad training.

Clever players like Smith, McConville and Henderson are born, not trained. Perhaps Henderson’s game is somewhat too advanced for those players around him. The aforementioned Egan and Power knew exactly where Sheehy could be found. Those who watch closely enough will see Henderson making the runs, with honesty, but is rarely found with the proper pass. In contrast, the Clann ireann man always looks for a player in a better position, an attribute referred to as ‘vision’.

Should Henderson, therefore, be more selfish, a little more daring and have the confidence to live up to his billing as one of the best two-footed forwards in the county? Henderson certainly has better close control than Steven McDonnell who, despite his greatness, always plays in spurts.

After the Ulster final of 1999, Oisn McConville, having scored 2-7, said: “Diarmaid set the most of them up for me there; I just did the easy bit”. Ryan Henderson is making the runs; he is finding support players in better positions but isn’t utilised to his full potential when in scoring positions.

If Paddy O’Rourke watches the video of last Sunday’s defeat, but does not chastise players for choosing the wrong options during the game, then all the preparations thus far will have been in vain.

Meanwhile, a young Clann ireann man who, in real terms, has just one foot on the ladder of county football, would need to move away from conformity to start doing what he wants to do on the field of play, not what others expect him to do.

If Ryan Henderson had played with the clever Power and Egan, he would have been as good as Mikey Sheehy. Craft and intelligence on the football pitch in the modern era would appear to have been replaced by routine and repetition. The modern county player will have been coached by as many as fifty coaches from under-10 level, a scenario which has led to the reduction of self-taught skill and inventiveness in the modern game.

Was Oisn McConville the top scorer in Ulster plainly because he was better than the rest, or was he slightly more selfish than those around him? The Armagh ace was, by his own admission, allowed to be the best when given the chance by those around him.