McGarry the best and should be an Allstar, says Skehan
McGarry, who won his third All-Ireland medal on Sunday has yet to win a coveted statute, something which baffles Skehan.
“It’s crazy really. Three All-Irelands won in the last four years, I’d say he’s been one of the top players Kilkenny have had over that period, and the steadiest. Two goals conceded in four All-Ireland finals, nine goals in 19 championship games, that’s some record. Not to have won an Allstar at this stage seems crazy to me. In fact he shouldn’t have one, he should have two, should be going for his third“.
The knock against McGarry is that he’s too low-key and doesn’t put himself about on or off the field. Such an excuse is rubbish, says Skehan.
“I don’t agree with that at all. In the first place, your performance should be judged only on the hurling field, not on talking to the media. But on the field, I don’t want him diving around the place, that’s the last thing I want to see.
“I’ve been coaching him for a long number of years and the one thing I stress, don’t let play develop in front of you. That means the big square, he looks after that area, and he does it very well. He gets out to it, gets the ball away. He makes the hard save look easy, puts his hand on the ball rather than the stick, gets his body behind the ball in plenty of time. That’s good goalkeeping“.
As he did when he rushed out between Joe Deane and Setanta
Ó hAilpín in the first half on Sunday and pressured the Cork corner-forward into the error?
“Exactly. Maybe it removes the glamour end, the diving and all that, but a diving save to me is a last-gasp effort to stop the ball, you’ve already been beaten all ends up and all you can do is throw yourself at it, try and get your hurl to it. You see some goalkeepers today diving when the ball has been hit from 30 or 40 metres away, making it look spectacular, when they could have positioned themselves and been across the ball in time to get the body in front of it, saved it and cleared it. And that’s a lot more beneficial to your team, and that’s what James McGarry does.”
What of the suggestion that the great defensive record is primarily due to a great outer defence?
More nonsense, says Skehan.
“He does have great backs, but ask them and they’ll tell you, one of the reasons they play with such confidence is the man behind them, they can take the occasional gamble because they know he’ll cover for them, he keeps everything organised back there“.
James rarely gives interviews, not his style, and wasn’t for conceding any ground on this issue either.
“It doesn’t bother me“, he says. “It bothers a lot of people in Kilkenny because they eat, drink and sleep hurling, and they probably feel I should have got one, but I dunno. There are only three people I have to satisfy, Brian Cody, Noel Skehan, Johnny Walsh, and once they’re happy, I’m happy.”
What of the fact that most people will again have ignored his contribution to Kilkenny’s latest All-Ireland triumph, the incident noted by Skehan in particular?
“That’s true, people don’t recognise that side of goalkeeping, they just see the diving across the goals, those kind of saves, but the little things can be the winning or losing of a game, can’t they?”
They can, but the little things can also be the winning or losing of Allstar awards, can’t they?
Meanwhile Young Irelands of Gowran, the Kilkenny Club champions, will take on Kilkenny in the Annual GOAL Challenge at Nowlan Park on Wednesday at 6pm. Charlie Carter, a controversial omission from the Kilkenny side on Sunday, is expected to line out for the club side.
All proceeds from the game will be used to expand GOAL’s Street Children Programme in Calcutta, a project which was visited recently by Kilkenny captain DJ Carey.
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