STEPPING out of the SHADOW
STEPHEN CLUXTON’S HEIR HAS STARTED TO GROW INTO THE ROLE AS DUBLIN’S NO. 1 ...
THINK of the big moments of the Allianz League and Championship so far and how so many have been goalkeeper related.
Kerry kick-started a whole debate about the risk-reward ratio of fly goalkeepers by catching out one of the best in the business, not once but twice, in a February humbling at Inniskeen. Monaghan’s Rory Beggan had an afternoon he would want to quickly forget.
Dublin’s shock relegation from Division 1 ended in the sight of another Monaghan player — this time Jack McCarron — applying a sublime coup de grace by lobbing Michael Shiel, the goalkeeper filling in for Evan Comerford.
Look at how Armagh struggled to beat the Donegal press at Ballybofey last Sunday and ultimately got dumped out of the Ulster SFC with converted outfield player Ethan Rafferty between the posts. In the first half alone, Donegal won eight of 14 Armagh kick-outs.
There was the big story out west in Castlebar where the one loose moment in the first half saw Mayo goalkeeper Rory Byrne kick a restart straight out over the sideline, leading to the only goal of the game by Galway. It came in a match of such fine margins with the visitors only squeezing home by one point in the end.
It’s safe to say that if Wexford are going to have any chance of upsetting the formbook and putting a bit of doubt in Dublin minds after a turbulent League campaign, they will have to put pressure on Dublin’s goalkeeper at Wexford Park on Saturday evening.
The problem is, if Comerford regains the number one jersey as expected after missing the last two rounds against Donegal and Monaghan, that is no easy task. The heir to Stephen Cluxton is really starting to grow into the role now that the saga around his predecessor’s involvement with the squad was firmly put to bed by manager Dessie Farrell back in January.
It was in the squall against Kerry down in Tralee that he called on the bank of experience gained by serving as Cluxton’s apprentice for five years, arrowing passes and for the most part finding his targets in the face of enormous Kingdompressure. Even as the team were submerged by wave after wave of Kerry attack — it was 1-14 to 0-4 at the break — Comerford kept his nerve and was one of the few to emerge by the end with his reputation intact.
Not that the spring campaign hasn’t been severely testing. Mayo’s first away League victory over Dublin since 1971 included the moment at Croke Park when Jack Carney’s shot rebounded off the post only to hit Comerford’s head and somehow ricochet into the net.
Cluxton’s kingmaker status meant his understudy’s Championship gametime between 2017 and 2020 consisted of just three cameos and it must have been hugely frustrating that Dublin couldn’t complete the seven in a row after he finally got the number one shirt all to himself, that record-chasing campaign unravelling in extra time of the All-Ireland semifinal against Mayo.
Brendan Hackett is his senior club manager with Ballymun Kickhams. He sees the qualities he brings to the position — so evident when the club stormed its way to the 2020 county title. He says Comerford wouldn’t have been fazed by trying to establish himself last year with so much speculation still swirling about Cluxton’s future and whether Dublin’s captain and eight time All-Ireland winner would be seen in the county colours again.
‘I don’t think Evan would be bothered by something like that. He has his own goals and ambitions. He went through the progressions of minor and Under 21 — I’m sure he saw himself as the senior goalkeeper. He would have looked at the age profile of Cluxton and realised “my time is coming”. The Cluxton thing may have been a distraction to other people; it wasn’t a distraction to Evan,’ said Hackett.
‘He works really, really hard at his goalkeeping with the coaches. Works really hard on his kick-outs. And he would have learned a lot from Stephen Cluxton. Would have used that time with him really well.’
Now 24, Comerford was a soccer goalkeeper with Bohemians during his underage years. That was before becoming a goalkeeper for Ballymun Kickhams after joining them from St Peregrine’s as a teenager.
Hackett explains what he brings to the role: ‘Apart from technically being a very good goalkeeper and tactically being very good on kick-outs and general play, I would say he’s very much a leader. That’s in terms of overall team play and his influence on the team. Particularly in the last couple of years now that he’s become Dublin’s number one. He would have a hugely positive effect, not just regarding kick-out duties. He would be seen very much as a leader and has the personality to be very much a positive influence on the group.
‘I don’t know Cluxton to compare him but he’s a very confident, intelligent person. That would come across in his conversations within the group or with individual players.’
With the modern goalkeeper now assuming a roving role, it’s never been more important. ‘The first thing about a goalkeeper now, they could have anything up to 20 or 30 possessions in a game, most of those being kick-outs,’ says Hackett. ‘So that’s a lot of possessions for one player to have. And those possessions would be crucial in that they’re close to goals so they have to be extremely accurate. A player out the field might get away with a turnover but for a goalkeeper, a turnover is in a much more dangerous area. So he has to be accurate, composed, and a great decision-maker. From a technical and tactical point of view then, a goalkeeper is crucial.
‘From a mental point of view, a goalkeeper is the eyes behind the defence. Very much giving direction. Modern defences might not have the traditional six defenders. There might be extra sweepers in there. So a goalkeeper is crucial in spotting the gaps in a defence, or the danger spots.
‘He needs to be a good communicator and not anxious. Because anxiety will transfer itself. When I said of Evan being confident and intelligent, that would shine in the way he communicates with the players in front of him. And in the way he would use a ball. Because a goalkeeper now is put under huge pressure from kick-outs.’
It will be interesting then to see how, or if, Wexford try to get at him. While the likes of Beggan and Tyrone’s Niall Morgan have added another dimension to goalkeeping by frequently doubling up as an outfield player, Comerford is more conservative in his forays.
‘He’s not rash. There has been a copycat element to these goalkeeping forays out the field. Some of the copycats may not do it wisely. Evan would use it judiciously. He’d be very smart in his use of cutting off space on an opposition kick-out.’
From a management point of view, it’s all about risk-reward. So can you win an All-Ireland without a fly keeper? Hackett isn’t alone in thinking the position ultimately boils down to fundamentals.
‘I think you can. It’s just an extra dimension. It’s more important that the keeper uses the ball well from kick-outs or turnovers. That’s a more important element. If you want to put shot-stopping and communication, they’d be equally important. Being a fly keeper or an extra man, I wouldn’t put it ahead of those other basics. It’s an added extra. Just because one All-Ireland is won with a keeper going out the field doesn’t mean everyone has to copy that now.’
How Dublin’s number one position works out over the summer is likely to tell its own tale of the county’s Leinster and All-Ireland ambitions.
“He’s not rash and is seen as a leader”