Even with Stephen Cluxton missing from the championship this summer, his shadow still hangs over it.
Every goalkeeper playing inter-county in this era has modelled his game to some extent on Cluxton. Some have added their own twist, some just want to try and be the best version of him that they can be. But one way or the other, all of them have used him as the starting point.
I think it's fascinating, for example, that of all the club goalies in all the big clubs all around Dublin, the successor they've chosen for Cluxton is such a close carbon copy of him. Think about it – how many left-footed goalkeepers have you seen at this level? I can't think of too many outside of Cluxton. But Evan Comerford has slotted straight in there, with every Dublin kick-out coming from his left boot.
That has to be deliberate to some extent. Not that Comerford isn’t a good goalkeeper in his own right – I have him as the front-runner for the All Star this year so far – but somewhere along the way, the planning for the future in the Dublin camp settled on him. The fact that he was left-footed when so many goalkeepers aren’t must have tipped the scales in his direction a bit.
Fair play to the Dubs, it has worked a treat for them. Everyone knew Cluxton would go at some stage but they couldn’t have known it would be in these circumstances. They would have had no idea that they’d be playing their league not knowing if he’d be back for championship. There’s the potential for chaos in the way it all panned out.
But because Comerford has worked so closely off the prototype, it’s been seamless for them. If Dublin had a different type of lad to take over in goals, even just a right-footed player, it would have been something they had to work on to get everyone on the same page for championship.
They’d have to change up their kick-out strategies, varying the spots where their go-to midfielders have to be for important kick-outs, get more used to what makes him comfortable. They’re all only little things but if you’re spending a lot of time on them, that’s time you’re not spending on other stuff. Being able to move on from the greatest goalkeeper in history without having to tear everything up and start again is some bonus.
Comerford hasn't put a foot wrong from kick-outs so far in the championship. But then again, when you consider that Wexford, Meath and Kildare didn't exactly kill themselves pushing up on any of his kick-outs in Leinster, Dublin would be in big trouble if he had put a foot wrong. Mayo will test him like he hasn't been tested before.
It was so noticeable on Sunday that Kildare weren’t interested in finding out what Comerford had under the bonnet. They didn’t put any pressure on him whatsoever. They had the perfect chance after both water breaks to really squeeze up on him and test his mettle but they didn’t.
Water break
At a basic level, sport is about making the other crowd work for it. You have to get them out of their comfort zone, show them that this result has to be earned. Yes, Comerford looks the part but we shouldn’t forget that he was playing in his first Leinster final. Maybe he’s the coolest cat that ever walked the earth. But Kildare will never know unless they ask the question.
They were only a point down at the first water break. They had spent the whole of the first 20 minutes conceding the kick-out. You would have thought this was the perfect opportunity to try something different. At least make Comerford have to think about what he was going to do.
There’s no chance to get a quick one away after the water break so why not really push up and present him with something he hadn’t seen up to that point in the game? Why not do what Dublin do when they’re being really aggressive and throw 10 or 11 men into the opposition half?
Instead, Kildare dropped off so much that Comerford had two short options in Jonny Cooper to his right and Davy Byrne to his left. There was no Kildare player inside the Dublin 45 and only five in the Dublin half altogether. It was a simple ball for Comerford to play and Dublin were away.
The one thing we can safely say about the Mayo game is that Comerford won’t get that sort of handy time of it. They won’t go gung-ho on every kick-out but they’ll push right up on some of them and the ones they don’t, they’ll be wired into whichever of the corner-backs he has used. Comerford has looked great so far but what’s he going to be like when the pressure comes on? Mayo won’t leave him wondering, that’s for sure.
Not so clever is all this carry-on that Rory Beggan was doing trying to play outfield
The goalkeepers in the Monaghan v Tyrone game were eye-catching too. I know both Rory Beggan and Niall Morgan both talk about how big an influence Cluxton has been on them and you could see it in the kick-out battle between them. They have moved it on to the next level, with both of them pushing up the field to distract the other and cut off the part of the field they like kicking into. It's a clever move.
Not so clever though is all this carry-on that Rory Beggan was doing trying to play outfield. I think he thinks he’s a better footballer than is actually the case. He has a beautiful strike of a ball off the ground, probably the best in the game. But he’s not an inter-county standard outfield player with the ball in his hands.
This was summed up for me when he got a sight of the posts about 10 minutes into the second half. Monaghan were on a roll at this stage and they had dominated the majority of the play since half-time. But nearly all their scores were coming from marks and frees. For all their good work, they weren’t creating too many clear openings from play.
That changed when Dessie Ward picked Beggan out with a lovely crossfield ball about 50 yards out from the Tyrone goal. It was a really well-planned move. Conor McManus stood still as a statue on the 45, meaning Pádraig Hampsey couldn't leave him. Ryan McAnespie and Stephen O'Hanlon both pulled wide and took their markers with them. It left Beggan with a huge patch of space in front of him and it should have been a certain score.
But he missed it, pulling across the goal and wide of the left-hand post. I think the umpire actually did him a favour by going to Hawkeye and making it look like it was closer than it was. It was a good three or four yards wide.
Spare man
Look, anyone can kick a wide. This wasn't an overly difficult shot but in an Ulster final, nothing is easy. Mattie Donnelly was the best player on the pitch in the first half but missed a 13-metre free in the second half. It happens.
But I'm sorry – if you're a goalkeeper and you're running away up the field and shooting at the posts, you better score. You have no margin for error. You have no credit in the bank. Monaghan have plenty of shooters. They had nine different scorers from play against Armagh. Any one of them would have been better taking that shot.
Beggan went up to contest a kick-out at one stage as well. Again, if you're going to do that, you'd want to be coming down with the ball. Otherwise, you're just getting in the way. This is an Ulster final, this is knock-out football. This is no time for you to be living the dream, chancing your arm at being a midfielder or a forward in Croke Park.
Because really all you’re doing is pissing people off. The two Monaghan midfielders must have been roaring at him to get out of their way. If you’re going to be an extra body in midfield, at least stay down and gather up the breaks. The whole reason behind doing it in the first place is that you are the spare man. It defeats the purpose if you’re just part of the scrum of bodies going up for the ball.
There’s a knock-on effect too further back the field. One of your corner-backs has to be designated to mind the house when Beggan is on his holidays up the pitch. So if and when the ball is turned over, he has to decide whether to stick with his man or go back on the line. Whichever he ends up doing, you can be sure he’s cursing his goalkeeper for putting him in that position.
This isn’t a traditionalism thing. I’m not saying goalkeepers have to be stuck to their line at all times. But the question Rory Beggan has to answer when he looks back at the video is: ‘What am I adding to the team by doing this?’
It would be one thing if he was a beautifully balanced footballer with silky skills off both feet. But he isn't. You can see that Morgan for Tyrone is clearly a more skilful player. Shane Ryan in Kerry plays in the forwards for Rathmore. For all his incredible kicking prowess off the ground, Beggan just doesn't have the natural ability of either of them in open play.
Little confidence
He’s tall and cumbersome and he kicks and handpasses exclusively off his right. That makes him easy to defend against at the top level. There’s no shame in it – he’s an All Star goalkeeper and deservedly so. Conor McManus couldn’t do what he does. But it does Monaghan no favours for him to be trying to do what Conor McManus does.
I know he made a great tackle on Donnelly near the end but nine out of 10 times that sort of messing ends up with the ball in the Monaghan net. And ultimately, that told me that Monaghan knew they were short of what it took to beat Tyrone.
If they were okay with Beggan indulging himself out the field to that extent, it showed very little confidence in the players they sent out to actually score and to actually catch kick-outs.
Put it this way – you won’t see Evan Comerford doing it. Or if you did, it probably would smoke Cluxton out of hiding fairly quickly!
