Shane Ryan the latest step in the evolution of goalkeeping in Gaelic football

It says a lot about the evolution of goalkeeping in Gaelic football that for all Diarmuid Murphy achieved during his reign with Kerry – four All-Irelands, three All Stars, etc – he never scored a single point. Not from a placed ball, and certainly not from play.

Now here he is talking about the potential for Kerry goalkeeper Shane Ryan to become the first goalkeeper to score from open play in an All-Ireland final. Ryan already popped one over the bar in the semi-final win against Derry, that kicking skill and accuracy easily explained by the fact he plays all his club football out the field with Rathmore.

Earlier this year, Ryan scored 1-3 at full forward when Rathmore won All-Ireland intermediate club title. His opposite number, Stephen Cluxton, has scored plenty over the years, 0-48 in championship matches, all from placed balls, none more famous than the late, late winner the 2011 All-Ireland final against Kerry.

For Murphy, who won the last of his four All-Irelands in 2009 and has been a Kerry selector going back to 2011, the art of goalkeeping has been in a sort of constant evolution since his time, not just in terms of scoring, but also tactics and strategy around kick-outs that are often deemed most pivotal.

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Back in Murphy’s day, it was simply about stopping shots. His former team-mate Darragh Ó Sé once reminded him of that, suggesting Kerry never had any tactics or strategy when it came to Murphy’s kicks-outs. All he needed to do was boot them out the field, leaving Ó Sé and company to take care of the rest.

“Shane drove on up the field the last day and kicked a point as well, which would be unusual for Kerry goalies,” said Murphy. “But it’s not just the style of play, you’re looking at the overall picture in terms of the players that are there and the players that are available to different teams, and the different systems that teams are putting in place. I suppose you’ve to cut your cloth to suit what you have.

“I think the standards have never been higher. I suppose you’ve really good footballers now playing inside in the goal as well, whereas maybe back in my time, certainly they wouldn’t have been as good a footballer as Shane Ryan or these lads anyway in terms of skills, in kicking, contributing to play.

“They’re excellent players, and you look at the likes of Odhrán Lynch, Niall Morgan, Rory Beggan over the last few years. They’re top, top players, but they’re really, really good footballers. Their skill levels are very high. And I think it’s exciting.

“Even things with some of the kick-outs. I know the shorter kick-out might bring its own set of challenges, but look at some of these lads kicking balls 70, 75 yards, as accurate as they are. The skill level in goalkeeping has gone through the roof compared to what it was in my time anyway.

“Unless you’re a really, really good kicker now, you’re not going to succeed at the top level, at intercounty level. But the levels that these lads are showing, week in, week out, is phenomenal.”

For all Ryan’s outfield play earlier in this season, and over the years with East Kerry too (he once lined up in the full forward line alongside David and Paudie Clifford), Murphy had no concerns over his return to the number one jersey once the league resumed.

“Not really, [it took] maybe a couple of weeks just to get up to speed again. Not huge now at all. It was great with his club team that they went as far as they did and that they were successful. That gave him a boost from the other side of it as well.”

“He’s having big contributions in big moments in games, so far for us this year, and long may it last. But in fairness he works hard in training, and Brendan Kealy would be our goalkeeping coach and works very hard, and Shane Murphy as well works very hard with Brendan during training.

Jack O’Connor clearly approves of Ryan’s style, making him the first-choice number one after returning as manager last year. Still, neither O’Connor or anyone else in Kerry expected they’d soon be back facing Cluxton again at the opposite end.

“It’s kind of hard to say, everybody is different,” Murphy says. “Clearly, he kept himself in good shape. It was a big move for them to make, but I’d say they’re happy with it and it’s worked out for them so far.

“Dublin still have a fantastic team, I was looking the other day at the 2019 All-Ireland final, most of them are there and most of our fellas as well as it turns out. They’ve still a lot of those players and still playing to a very high level.”