‘Never let belief die’ – Hoops’ long-term project Pohls grabs chance

The loneliness of the second-choice goalkeeper. It’s a story that someone like Caoimhín Kelleher can tell all too well these days as he reverts to his uncomfortable seat on the bench after a spell under the spotlight for Liverpool.

Right now Leon Pohls is enjoying life: finally established as first-choice ’keeper with Shamrock Rovers, he’s on a run of two clean sheets in three games and, if things go their way in backto-back home games against Galway United (tonight) and Drogheda United (Monday), the champions could be back on top of the league table in time for next week’s derby away to Bohemians.

He also has the praise of his manager ringing in his ears – Stephen Bradley says that German native Pohls has “better feet” than any ’keeper he has worked with, including Gavin Bazunu.

Yet he’s anything but an overnight success: Pohls arrived at Rovers in 2019 on a route that included the USA and England. He had to wait until 2024 before establishing himself with the Hoops – assuming the No 1 position when Alan Mannus retired at the end of last season – having filled in for Mannus when he was injured last term.

“Yeah, five years is a long time,” he says. “Also, being foreign, it does take its toll but if you have the right people around you, that keep motivating you, keep pushing you, you’ll find a way. It’s a lonely job if you’re a No 2.

“You just have to believe, really, never let the belief die. If the chance comes around you just have to take it. I thought I’d done that last season. Now it’s time to keep proving it’s the right decision.”

Only a handful of German players have appeared in the League of Ireland in a century, though Pohls is aware that fellow Hamburg native Uwe Seeler, a true legend of the German game, had a spell here with Cork Celtic in 1978. (Seeler had retired and thought he was playing in an exhibition game related to his day job with Adidas but ended up playing a league game where he scored twice in a 6-2 win over, ironically, Rovers.)

Pohls (below) didn’t have Ireland in mind when he left Hamburg at 17. “I always wanted to travel, see the world, so I didn’t hesitate,” he says. He went to High School in the US, in New York and Florida. Still in his teens, he was then brought to England to i2i Soccer Academy in York, a USA-run scheme for aspiring professionals that mixed college work and football, where he lined out for non-league side Tadcaster Albion.

“I was studying international business management but dropped my course the semester before I finished it. It was a huge risk but at that time I was old enough to make my own decisions and I left Uni,” he says.

Rovers staff spotted Pohls in the opposition ranks in an academy trial game in 2019 and he took up the offer of a move to Dublin. “I always believed in stepping up one day,” he says.

Bradley said at the time that they bought Pohls mindful of the fact that Bazunu was about to move away, to Manchester City, and wanted to have a succession line in place. Pohls made his first team debut in a League Cup tie, a month after signing. He just didn’t think it would take five years to get there as Mannus backed off from thoughts of retirement before finally quitting at the end of last season.

“Through the years I always got a game or two or three at end of the season. That was good for my experience.

For me, the belief never stopped, ‘I’m going for this.’ When Alan got injured last year, I was ready, mentally, physically. I wanted to prove myself,” he says.

Now he’s stepped up and stepped into Mannus’s shoes, Bradley glad that the long-term investment has paid off.

“We have been planning for Leon to come into this role for the best part of two years. Alan was adamant that if Leon matured mentally and physically, he’d be the best in the league, when he tells you that you have to listen,” Bradley says.

“I haven’t seen a goalkeeper with better feet than Leon and I include Gavin in that. He makes brilliant saves and you can see already how he has matured in his game. I like him, he has brought a calmness to us as well.”

Rovers might need that calmness tonight against Galway. “Galway have a brilliant way of playing,” Bradley says. “They have already shown in their results that they are more than capable of beating anyone; if you are not ready and you don’t respect it, you will get beaten.”