HAILING KEEPERS OF THE FAITH
Men between the sticks now hold the No 1 position in hurling in more ways than one ...
TO JUDGE how the goalkeeping position has changed in hurling, just look at the All-Ireland hurling semi-final between Kilkenny and Waterford.
Whereas once the job description read like an ad in the personals section: ‘Long puck, solid shotstopper, brave, good sense of humour (optional),’ now it has been remodelled and re-packaged for the 21st century.
Kilkenny’s Eoin Murphy didn’t make a save against the beaten Munster finalists last Sunday at Croke Park. He didn’t have to. The game was fought along different battle lines.
The terms of engagement were set by Waterford and with Maurice Shanahan operating as a one-man full-forward line at times, the game was always likely to be decided by other factors.
And yet Murphy played a key role for Kilkenny. TJ Reid’s goal? It started from the keeper who acted as a de-facto sweeper in behind his full-back line.
In the 17th minute, he raced out to pick up a Jamie Barron delivery, turned back across his goal and pinged a ball off his left from 50 metres straight into the hand of Michael Fennelly.
His midfielder, in turn, feinted to shoot off one side, only to pivot and thump the ball goalwards off the other. Tadhg de Burca made the mistake of jumping with his full-back Barry Coughlan and Reid stole in to fire home the gamebreaking goal.
Make no mistake, Eoin Murphy’s fingerprints were all over it.
Now the job description of a hurling No 1 includes an ability to play as an extra defender as well as pick a way through the maze of outfield bodies to find a player from anything between 13 to 100 metres away.
It is easy to make a case now that the position of goalkeeper in hurling has evolved to the extent that it is now the most important on the field.
Tipperary keeper Darren Gleeson takes the idea and mulls it over.
‘If you analyse that a goalkeeper has the ball in his hands 30 or 35 times in a game — if your key forward had it in his hand 30 or 35 times in a game, you’d be happy enough,’ says Gleeson.
‘It’s always been that way, but people are now looking more at how you’re using it, or the space you have to use. Obviously if there’s seven or eight back at the other end of the field, there has to be an opening somewhere.’
A piece he read in relation to the game’s pre - eminent f ootball goalkeeper struck a chord with him as he prepares for tomorrow’s All- Ireland semi- f i nal against Galway.
‘I read an article about that in football, where Dublin’s attacks start with [Stephen] Cluxton setting up a 70 per cent scoring rate with successful kick-outs.
‘Does it come across into hurling? I’d put more emphasis on breaking ball, guys winning breaks more than puck-outs. There’s a lot more breaking balls in a match than puck-outs; you might have 80 or 90 breaking balls, you might have 50 puck-outs.
‘So there’s more of an emphasis on that. It’s just a trend, when you have a sweeper then you’ve more room to hit short ball and people are more conscious of successful percentages.’
Given their position in terms of reading the game and needing to have an overview of what is going on all over the field, it is hardly a coincidence that former goalkeepers populate the inter-county management ranks, including Davy Fitzgerald (Clare), Ger Cunningham (Dublin), Damien Fitzhenry ( Wexford coach) and James McGarry (Kilkenny coach).
Then there is Dónal Óg Cusack, one of the most influential pundits in the game, with Brendan Cummins also building a reputation as a TV and radio pundit.
It was Cusack this time last year who described Gleeson’s performance as the best display of tactical puck- outs ever seen — Gleeson’s laser-guided deliveries were at the heart of Tipperary’s 10-point demolition of Cork.
PJ Ryan is another master of the fundamentals, having won seven All-Irelands and will forever be heralded for his virtuoso display of s hot- s t o pping in t he 2009 All-Ireland final against Tipp.
‘Being a goalkeeper myself, I always thought it was the most important position,’ says Ryan with a laugh, before admitting: ‘It has changed. Even from the time I was playing or Brendan Cummins or Damien Fitzhenry, you’d certainly have seen goalkeepers make more saves than they do now. Eoin Murphy would be able to hurl out the field for Kilkenny.
‘Waterford had so many players drawn back that they were always going to play long balls in and that’s why Eoin had to come out and sweep last Sunday. He had a lot of balls to catch but no saves to make. The fundamentals are the same. The primary job is to stop the ball.
‘The one thing about Kilkenny and Eoin, if he has to go long the boys are well capable of winning their own ball. Other teams maybe don’t have that luxury.’
He points to the influence of Cusack in the evolution of the short puck- out. ‘From our time, Dónal Óg brought in the whole short puck- out, the quick puckout. The Kilkenny half-back line was notorious back then — you had JJ Delaney, Brian Hogan, Tommy Walsh or Peter Barry — if you pucked it long those boys would mop it up. Donal Óg was pivotal to that Cork set-up.
‘When Wexford beat us in Croke Park in 2004, Damien Fitzhenry’s puck- outs and distribution were pivotal. Same with Stephen O’Keeffe last Sunday. I know one or two were intercepted and he got a bit of flak but for each of those he must have pucked five or six brilliant balls.’
In last year’s Leinster final, even as Kilkenny cruised past Dublin, Alan Nolan was awarded the manof-the-match award, as much for his daredevil display as defensive sweeper as for his shot- stopping and puck-outs.
Colm Callanan’s ability to find Jonathan Glynn has been a feature of Galway’s progress to an All- Ireland semi- f i nal and Darren Gleeson has been showing again why he i s the All- Star goalkeeper.
‘This will be a hugely tactical battle,’ says Ryan of tomorrow’s All-Ireland semi-final. ‘I’d say both Colm and Darren will be hugely pivotal to it.’
It is a goalkeeper’s world.
The semi-final will be a huge tactical battle