Minor breakthrough came after switch from midfield to goalkeeper for Uosis

AS a young boy born in Lithuania in 2000, Deividas Uosis could never have dreamt that seventeen years later, he would be lining out between the sticks for the Kerry minor footballers on All-Ireland Final day in Croke Park as they sought to lift the Tom Markham Cup for the fourth year in succession.

How did the journey start? And how did it reach that destination?

“Well, first of all, I can’t tell you too much about what life was like in Lithuania, because I came here to Ireland when I was four years old,” explains Uosis.

“I remember little bits and pieces alright, but my dad (Laimonas) came over here first, as there weren’t too many jobs to be got in Lithuania at the time.

“Dad got a job with Padraig McKenna Builders here in Dingle, and he’s still working in the same place all these years later. Myself and mom (Inga) came over then the following year and my brother (Aivaras) was born here then in 2005.

“I started playing gaelic football when I was about six years of age when I started school in Scoil Iognaid Ris. I fell in love with the game straight away. I just couldn’t stop playing it.

“I was never a goalkeeper at the start. I played midfield, in the half-forwards, all sorts of positions outfield. Then, in 2015, Dingle won the county minor football championship, and they had asked me to play in goal. Maybe because I had a long kick-out!

“I said ‘why not?’ I might as well take a chance because I was playing on the same team as somebody like Mark O’Connor. Then it was 2017 when I got a call to go in with the Kerry minors. That was a huge shock, because I hadn’t been a goalkeeper that long.

“But, the chance to play for Kerry? Nobody would turn that down.”

With Uosis a fixture between the posts, Kerry sauntered through their provincial campaign, beating Clare (2-16 to 1-6), Cork (2-17 to 1-10) and destroying the Banner men again in the Munster final in Killarney (2-21 to 0-3).

Louth were defeated in the All-Ireland quarter-final (1-22 to 2-9), while Cavan were dispatched in the last four (2-22 to 2-10). That led to the biggest day in Deividas’ sporting life, on September 17, in the All-Ireland Final at GAA Headquarters on Jones’ Road against Galway.

Under the astute management of Peter Keane, inspired by the leadership and class of David Clifford, and containing many of today’s emerging Kerry stars in Cian Gammell, Michael Potts, Barry Mahony, Diarmuid O’Connor, Adam Donoghue, Donal O’Sullivan, Fiachra Clifford and many more, the Kingdom ripped Derry to shreds in the decider, by a mammoth 24 points (6-17 to 1-8).

“Peter Keane is one of the best managers that I have ever had. Every manager that I’ve worked for has been very good, but he was just exceptional. He had great speeches, very enjoyable training, we benefited from every single training session that we did. You see Peter now with the seniors and it’s clear that, whatever he’s doing, it’s getting him places. That’s for sure.”

What about captain Clifford from Fossa then, scorer of 4-4 from play against Derry, and a quite staggering 8-41 in that six-game minor campaign?

“It was such a great day. Winning an All-Ireland, with a scoreline like that, we certainly didn’t expect it to be that handy. The start was the key, the way we got control of the game from the outset.

“David is a great player, as he is now showing with the seniors as well. But, even more importantly, he is a great person, always very encouraging to every other player, and he was certainly like that for me when I came into the minor squad. He is a great man, both on and off the field. Definitely the most talented sportsman I have seen in my life so far!

“You had plenty of others too in that team. Diarmuid O’Connor and Barry Mahony were huge players for the minors at midfield. You could see immediately that Diarmuid was going to be a great player and Barry is now inside training with the seniors too. He has great potential and I can see him moving up the rankings in there very soon,” added the Dingle man.

This year, of course, Uosis is a member of John Sugrue’s Kerry Under-20 panel. Sub-goalkeeper at the moment, behind Glenflesk’s Marc Kelliher, there is an obvious desire and inner belief within the player to change his manager’s thinking.

“Every manager you work with sees different things in different players. I am grateful to be on the panel, and I am just training as hard as I can in every training session to try and get my place on the team. Whoever the manager then picks, I can’t complain.

“John (Sugrue) has a different style of play to the other managers I have had before. He is extremely focused, there is no messing around, and he’s got the confidence in his own tactics.”

Limerick and Cork were overcome in the Munster Championship, before Kerry were due to play Galway in the All-Ireland Under-20 semi-final on St Patrick’s Day. A few days in advance of that date, however, everything changed with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic into Ireland. There hasn’t been a competitive ball kicked in gaelic football since.

“Like everybody else at the moment, I’m just staying at home, doing my gym work, going for runs, cycling. I cycle 25 to 30 kilometres about three days a week. I’m doing the weights as well. Then I go for runs in the evenings, six or seven kilometres, maybe ten sometimes, three or four nights a week. Whatever I can do really.

“Of course you miss the bit of craic that you have when you are inside training with the lads. But what we can do is to stay positive as much as we can during this time and try and focus on the future.”

With the GAA announcing over the last week that inter-county activity will not be happening until October at the earliest, and no real light at the end of the tunnel regarding club football either, Uosis is adamant that decisions to return to play will not be made by the players.

“We can talk all we want about bringing back football in the next few weeks, in the next few months, but it’s the medical people who will make those decisions. We have to leave all that to the HSE and others. It’s definitely not up to us. It’s up to the doctors,” he stressed.