Rory Beggan is the 16th Man
I remember when it used to be a bit of craic to be a goalkeeper. When you got to wear a jersey with padded elbows, aggressively point and roar at people , and importantly, didn’t have to train as hard as anyone else! Mickey McVeigh, All-Star winning goalkeeper from Down I always remember for wearing big clunky, over-the-ankle boots that may actually have had hobnails in them. The studs were so long, he could have been prosecuted for fracking when he played. John O’Leary, a great hero of mine for keeping without gloves was another fan of the ankle boot.
There are many things that goalkeepers can’t do anymore, one of which is wear boots like Mickey’s. The amount of moving about keepers do now before restarts, Irish dancing shoes would be more appropriate. Long kicks to midfield are a retro idea, with the statisticians having their way, highlighting possession retention percentages in favour of a dinked kick to the corner back on the 21’.
Rory Beggan is playing Chess, and everyone else is at checkers.
The recent GAA Allstars ceremony has once again shone a light on goalkeeping, and the lively debate on the top netminder between Cluxton or Beggan was a perfect example. The men between the posts has never been more high profile, or more pressured. The debate was settled, once and for all, for anyone who watched Burren and Scotstown last weekend. Rory Beggan is playing Chess, and everyone else is at checkers.
The training that goalkeepers are now doing is unlike anything we have seen in the history of Gaelic Football. They are without doubt, the most crucial player on any successful team. They regulate possession, set up attacks, and in some cases are the principal freetaker for their team.
In recognition of this, Meath in 2017 experimented with former forward Joe Sheridan as goalkeeper, such is the skill and accuracy needed to convert restarts into possession. He also gave a devastating declaration on the lack of enjoyment in the game in an exit interview from the county scene.
The profile of a modern goalkeeper is drastically different these days. They are normally 6 feet and under, slight of frame, nimble and agile. The agility required no longer for getting down to your left for a one hand save, rather for taking a pass back off your corner back as you recycle it forward.
It’s not just Gaelic Football of course. While there is no room for the Mickey McVeighs or Gary Connaughtons of this world anymore, neither is there in soccer. Famously Joe Hart was released by Pep Guardiola from Man City’s ranks because of his inability to handle a ball to his feet from a defender. Hugo Lloris is probably the best known exponent of the traits of a modern ‘sweeper keeper’, and his talents have brought him to the very heights of the game as club captain in Tottenham, and a World Cup winning captain.
Cast your mind however, back to that game in June. I happened to be in a wet field in Clogherhead at the time. I did however, pop over to a stacked gazebo with about 40 lads inside watching the World Cup Final. I was just in time to see Lloris try and fail to dribble around Mario Mandžukić and let in one of the most pathetic goals in World Cup history. It perfectly demonstrated the tightrope that modern keepers walk these days. In the search for statistical perfection, they seem to be neglecting the basics of the position and endangering their goal with reckless risk taking.
So too in Gaelic Football, where the supreme talents of Cluxton and Beggan have produced a narrative whereby gaelic keepers are taking the easy way out, if they hump it down the field towards a lumbering midfielder. The bar has been raised impossibly high, and most keepers are struggling to keep up with this new standard.
On Sunday, in the Ulster Club Quarter Final, Burren probably should have taken their goalkeeper off before half time. Cathal Murdock had just lost three kickouts in a row, the last being a particularly egregious mistake kicking into a 2-on-1 situation leading to an easy score. Sean Murdock, a substitute, was sent down to the goals with instructions and calming words. The report back was that the Burren number 1 was white as a sheet. He had cracked under the immense pressure the position now inflicts. Just two weeks before, he had been star of the County final, kicking five points from placed balls in the defeat of long time rivals Kilcoo.
The non-injury enforced goalkeeper substitution is a particularly dramatic event. Rob Hennelly of Mayo cracked on the biggest stage of all in the 2016 All-Ireland replay against Dublin. Managers, clearly cognisant of the psychological damage it causes, shy away from it in games, and Paddy O’Rourke spared Murdock the ignominy of being replacing before the interval.
It was a kicking game Murdock was forced into, faced by the extreme pressure that Rory Beggan places on his opposing number 1, and a relatively simple press that exposed a weakness. Beggan is no longer a goalkeeper or even a sweeper keeper, he is the 16th man.
In moves more akin to a sevens football side, time and time again Beggan attacked up the field, following his wing backs who acted almost like blockers in an NFL game, clearing space for a run up the middle. Every time he played a game of chicken with the Burren forwards; come at me, if you dare. One occasion in the first half should go down in GAA infamy. Untouched until the 45 yard line, Beggan is eventually fouled. Expecting him to toss the ball down and stroke over a free, the Burren players retreat back and accept their fate. In a move of pure disrespectful brilliance, Beggan chips the free to midfielder Frank Caufield, takes the 1–2 and taps over from 35, registering his first career point from play.
This is what the 16th man is really about. By taking these incredibly risky runs up the field, Beggan can actually produce two overlaps, if one of the other Scotstown players can break from their marker. Although the tactic is hard to overcome, it is made harder by the consistent excellence of Beggan’s decision taking, the key attribute to being a top keeper in today’s game. The closest you could find to a chink in his armour is that he bounces the ball a little bit high…
The proliferation of the free-taking, sweeper keeper does raise a few questions. One is the toll on a keeper when it all goes wrong. Several keepers in the past have spoken out about the pressures of the position in past like David Herity, Donal Óg and Benny Tierney among others. By loading up another responsibility on the player, crowd baying while a panicked goalie decides which side to kick to, you risk ruining player, especially at the early age groups. I have already seen numerous occasions of hair-pulling underage managers, frustrated at the inability of 8 year olds to pick out a corner back with a pinpoint kick. It also rules out a player with a particular body type. One of the great assets of Rugby, is how it can remain an option regardless of speed or size. The style of play now demanded of these modern keepers could exclude more young people from getting and staying involved with the game.
The other big issue is pace of play is an obsession across all sports regardless of hemisphere, and in a game already beset with problems of watchability and excitement, Gaelic Football can ill afford this latest encumberment. A shot clock, similar to the ‘serve clock’ in Tennis might be one way of ensuring teams do not use the keeper’s run up to take a free as another way of whittling time off the clock. In Rory Beggan’s case, it’s not really much of an issue. He’s normally in the forward line anyway.
CK
