Fly-keepers — football’s latest fad?
It was only a matter of time before mobile goalies were used as an extra outf ield option but it seems the new trend is bound to go the way of the hardly lamented blanket defence...
TENSIONS can be high when Donegal play Monaghan. It doesn’t take much for tempers to flare, and that’s likely to be the case in Ballybofey this afternoon, as much in the stands as on the field, especially when Rory Beggan makes one of his customary forays up the field.
‘Get back in goals, Beggan, will you?’ is a regular a cry from some of the Farney faithful these days as ‘C’mon Monaghan’. But don’t be fooled into thinking that getting lobbed a couple of times by Kerry’s quick-thinking forward in Patrick Kavanagh country a fortnight ago will put an end to the goalkeeper’s wandering. Beggan has been key in bringing the fly-keeper of the schoolyard into Gaelic football and there is no going back now.
Former Armagh goalkeeper Paddy Morrison played a part in the game’s latest innovation. A fracture in his back ruled him out of the Orchard’s 2016 Ulster Championship opener against Cavan. Kieran McGeeney, thinking outside the box, decided that midfielder Paul Courtney would replace Morrison in the nets.
Cavan won by eight points, 2-16 to 0-14, with McGeeney criticised on The Sunday Game that evening for the leftfield selection. But neither of Cavan’s goals came from any blunder on Courtney’s part and he only strayed into the opposition half on a couple of occasions.
‘Geezer knew I was out for 12 weeks, so the thing is that they were working on that ploy for a long time in training,’ said Morrison. ‘Brendan Donaghy was Armagh’s full-back at the time and had spent some time in the nets, so whenever Paul went up the field, Brendy dropped into goals. Armagh never actually played without a goalkeeper during the game.
‘It caused a bit of a stir on the day, and they talked about it on The Sunday Game because it looked so unorthodox. It’s not unorthodox any more, that’s for sure.’
Morrison is now a goalkeeping coach and most recently worked with Kilcoo, whose keeper Niall Kane scored a goal direct from a 45 in their victorious All-Ireland final. Like his late charismatic father John, Morrison is a deep thinker about the game and feels there are pros and cons to the latest fad in Gaelic football.
‘As a tactic, I am both for and against it in the modern game,’ he says. ‘Goalkeepers should do it but only if they are comfortable doing it. The likes of Niall Morgan and Beggan play out the field for their club, so they are comfortable out there, but you can’t ask someone who has played in goals all their lives to be going out, creating overlaps and joining the attack.
‘That is where I think the tactic will fall down. Yes, it is innovative and will be great for teams to deploy but only if the keeper himself is comfortable.
‘If you take a goalkeeper out of their comfort zone, it will create a whole lot of trouble for them and the team. A goalkeeper coming out with the ball is going to be found out pretty quickly.’
Morgan and Beggan aren’t unusual as county keepers playing outfield in club football. Kerry’s Shane Ryan and Galway’s Conor Gleeson do the same. One of the consequences of the emergence of fly-keepers is that managers and coaches are looking for ball-players who can be taught how to be shot-stoppers.
Morrison doesn’t entirely agree with that. In his fascinating blog on goalkeeping, he unearthed a quote about how the position is the most scrutinised and yet most misunderstood on the football field. It came from soccer but can equally apply to Gaelic football.
‘You have to move like a goalkeeper in the way you close down space and close down an opposition forward. There is a certain way to move around the goals. It is like a gymnast, if you see someone on a vault or a pommel horse, you know the ones who have done gymnastics all their lives and the ones who don’t. It’s the same with a goalkeeper. It is like when a keeper gets red-carded in soccer and an outfield player goes in, his movement is often clunky and clumsy because he is not comfortable in there,’ Morrison points out.
‘It has become the most influential position on the field, because of the importance of retaining possession, but it is also unique because your mistakes are scrutinised like nowhere else. If you are a midfielder and lose a high ball, you can still dispossess your opponent. If a goalkeeper loses a high ball, it is a goal and is remembered by everyone.’
Donal Hughes is a goalkeeping coach in Mayo. He saw how the position has changed in the past decade since Stephen Cluxton’s kick-outs became the launchpad for the greatest-ever Gaelic football team. He felt that it was a natural progression for coaches to use the tactic of a fly-keeper.
‘It is great for goalkeepers the way that the position has evolved. When I played, goalies were either very good shot-stoppers or those who weren’t good enough or fit enough to play out the field.
‘Now, it’s recognised as arguably the most influential position on the field,’ Hughes says.
‘Given where we are now, where everything in Gaelic football is analysed to the nth degree, there was always going to come to a point when a coach thought “why am I wasting one of my players in goals when he can come out the field and create overlaps”.’
Doing BBC commentary for the recent Down-Derry National League encounter, when both goalkeepers joined their respective attacks, former Mourne playmaker Marty Clarke remarked that many of his ex-AFL colleagues always wondered about the wisdom of having one player permanently left between the posts. ‘They used to ask me was it against the rules for a goalkeeper to leave his goals,’ Clarke remembered. ‘They just couldn’t believe that goalkeepers wouldn’t move up from their goals and join the attack.’
It was a sentiment that Conor McKenna echoed when he returned to Tyrone from his time in the AFL, according to Niall Morgan.
‘You’re an extra player, you are not being marked at times so why not push out and try to do a job?’ Morgan asked. ‘Conor McKenna was saying that the Australians couldn’t understand why the goalkeeper in Gaelic football didn’t just come out the field and create an extra man. We are going to push it as far as it will go.’
The manner in which Manuel Neuer developed the sweeper keeper role in soccer has seen a new generation of custodians – such as Ederson and Marc-Andre ter Stegen – who are more renowned for the way they can play with the ball at their feet than their shot-stopping ability.
Cluxton’s mastery of kick-outs and dead-ball ability led to a generation of goalkeepers being selected for their sweet ball-striking. But the evolution of the position has continued and now, in certain underage development squads, some of their most talented ball-players are being tried as a goalkeeper. However, both Hughes and Morrison feel the basics of the position should still be the most significant factor.
‘I hope the art of goalkeeping isn’t forgotten and young lads aren’t just thrown in the nets because they can strike the ball well or have a bit of pace to create the overlap,’ Hughes said. ‘The bread and butter of goalkeeping is still keeping a clean sheet, keeping the ball out of the net. Look at last year’s All-Ireland final. Goals were essentially the difference.’
And Morrison feels that the flykeeper will only last for as long as teams find a way to neutralise it.
‘There are always fads in Gaelic football. Ten years ago, the game was swamped by blanket defences and then, five years ago, they became pointless because the top teams have figured out how to beat the blanket. And it will be the top teams who will figure out a way to stop this tactic, too.’
Still, it will be fun for as long as it lasts. No matter how common it becomes, there is something thrilling about a goalkeeper leaving his goals – especially if the opposition gain possession.
It is great for goalkeepers the way the position has evolved
The bread and butter of goalkeeping is still keeping a clean sheet