This is the future.
Goalkeepers have more on their plates now than they ever did before.
First it was Steven Cluxton breaking the mould with his laser-like short kick-outs convincing every manager in the country for the first time that possession can actually be a guaranteed thing from their own team’s kick-outs.
Another job for the ‘keepers.
Then there were lads like Rory Beggan fleeing his nets and racing down the other end of the field and scoring a point in a Monaghan club game, with the opposition team not even laying a finger on him in the process.
On Wednesday night, there was the Mayo junior management team reaping the rewards from their ballsy decision of playing a fly keeper in the final few minutes of their Connacht Championship clash with Roscommon when they were chasing the game.
Instead of accepting a three point loss, Mayo went for broke by leaving their goals vacated and the game swung and a stunned Roscommon were beaten.
https://twitter.com/ktonra88/status/991791357671952385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportsjoe.ie%2Fgaa%2Finjury-time-goal-mayo-scored-whilst-playing-fly-keeper-158910&tfw_creator=ConanDoherty&tfw_site=sportsjoedotie
Finally, the penny has dropped and managers are coming to realise that there actually is no point in having a man guarding the nets at times when the ball might be 80 yards down the other end of the field.
So the stakes are being raised for goalkeepers. Gone are the days when the chubby kid might have been chucked in there because they wouldn’t have made it out the field. This is the modern goalkeeper.
Benny Gallen from Aghyaran in County Tyrone knows the score. Now Benny Gallen is no stranger to this type of thing. Let’s not forget, this is the man who scored 29 points for his club in the 2017 Tyrone senior League.
Benny Gallen is tearing it up! https://t.co/8ChT2SnQYs
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 28, 2017
Last year’s county minor stopper picking up from exactly where he left off this year.
In a recent League game in the Red Hand county, the flamboyant net-minder gathered the ball just outside his own 21-yard line. He sold a devastating dummy to an onrushing tackler before leaving two more defenders trailing in his wake.
He breaks past another tackle, displaying all the pace of a sprightly attacker, before landing a point off balance, off the right and under pressure from more than 45 yards out.
The speed of him.
Video Credit: Shane Rice @RiceLifestyle
Prepare to see more and more of this type of thing during the summer. The prospect of the roving goalkeeper came up for discussion on this Thursday’s GAA Hour Football Show and Cian Ward is only surprised that it hasn’t come to the fore sooner.
“There’s no difference in the rule between your outfield player and your goalkeeper. It’s beyond belief that this is not a common tactic in the game, it’s actually mind-boggling,” said the Meath man.
You can listen to the GAA Hour Show discussion on roaming ‘keepers here.
