Careful.

Michelle’s photo challenge this week:

This week, show us something careful — a photo taken with care, a person being careful, or a task or detail requiring care.

‘The Sideline Cut’
MB returns to the Irish sport of hurling for this week’s challenge, and specifically to an aspect of the game called ‘the sideline cut’.

When the ball is knocked out over the sideline during the course of a game by either team, the referee awards a ‘sideline cut’ to the opposite team. It’s a bit like a golf shot but much more difficult to execute, given the nature of the implement with its broad edge (a hurley). Even in top games the amount of fluffed shots is very high. To get it exactly right requires great care and skill.

Execute the strike poorly and the ball will dribble embarrassingly along the ground for just a few yards. Hit it correctly, at the precise point required underneath the ball and at exactly the correct angle with the hurley stick, and watch the ball soar majestically into the air and into the far distance. At approximately the same angle as a well-struck 8-iron in golf.

MB caught this player taking a sideline cut at a recent game when he was home in September, just as the hurley is about to make contact with the ball. Can not remember how it turned out.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA