Evan Comerford: The accidental goalkeeper who became Dublin's number one

Comerford was a goalkeeper underage with Bohemians before becoming a GAA No.1

Dublin goalkeeper Evan Comerford: The Ballymun Kickhams man was a goalkeeper underage with Bohemians before becoming a GAA No.1. Picture: Stephen McCarthy

Maybe it’s a data protection thing but match programmes aren’t what they used to be when it comes to providing information on players.

Forget height, weight, age, occupation, and all of that, the most we could glean about Evan Comerford from the Leinster final programme was that he plays his club football for Ballymun Kickhams.

Even that isn’t a particularly great insight into who the 23-year-old is, where he’s come from or how he’s put himself in a position to replace the greatest goalkeeper of all time.

The thing is, Ballymun blood doesn’t flow through Comerford’s veins. He joined the club in his teens from St Peregrines in Blanchardstown and initially came as an outfield player in defence.

What they didn’t know was that Comerford had already played in goals for the Bohemians U12 and U13 teams. Scroll back through Bohs’ social media timeline and you’ll come across a photo of Comerford posing for a team picture many moons ago.

The story goes that soon enough after joining Ballymun, Comerford was messing around in goals after U15 training, saving penalty kicks for fun, when his talent was quickly identified.

Comerford’s own explanation for how he became a GAA goalkeeper, given in an interview with the Oxygen website when he was a student at DCU, isn’t quite as romantic. According to him, the regular U16 keeper didn’t turn up for a league game and he was thrown the jersey.

“I used to play soccer for Verona when I lived in Blanchardstown and the coaches knew this, so when our keeper wasn’t around, I had to hop in and I didn’t really play outfield again after that,” he explained.

It wasn’t too long afterwards Comerford was heading down the M7 to the Kildare Village outlet stores when he got a call from his Ballymun manager, Dublin great Anto McCaul, informing him of a Dublin underage trial.

There were a couple of other keepers there from St Sylvesters and Lucan and Comerford was initially concerned. “I remember seeing them and thinking, ‘Shit, these lads are good’,” he said.

Comerford was better though and here he is now, preparing to be the last line of Dublin’s defence on Leinster final day.

He’s still viewed as a novice but the reality is that this will be his 24th start for Dublin in all competitions.

It’s four years ago now since he started all five O’Byrne Cup games for Dublin in 2017 and got his hands on his first piece of silverware with them.

Comerford started two league games in 2018, five in 2019, and five more in 2020. Looking back now, Dessie Farrell’s decision to start Michael Shiel against Roscommon and Galway in this season’s league may have been with a view to assessing the cover for Comerford with Cluxton’s exit perhaps already clear at that stage.

Tomorrow will be Comerford’s sixth Championship appearance and his third in a row. From John Leonard to Shane Supple to Michael Savage, Cluxton always saw off his understudies over the years but this appears to be Comerford’s time.

His development has been intriguing to watch. Standing behind the DCU goals for the 2020 Sigerson Cup final which was hosted by the college, it was striking how vocal Comerford was, constantly directing and encouraging those ahead of him. He kicked three points from frees that evening too.

When he first landed in the Dublin setup, he found it difficult to be so assertive. Clubmate Philly McMahon noticed Comerford’s hesitancy straight away and had a word.

“Philly came over to me and said, ‘We don’t care what age you are, just tell us where to go and we’ll go’, which really encouraged me,” said Comerford.

There’s another good yarn from the Oxygen interview too, about how Comerford modelled himself on Cluxton and how he’d become aware as a teenager of the Dublin great’s ridiculously fast restarts. At one stage, Cluxton had it down to a matter of seconds and Comerford would replicate this himself. Ball goes over the bar, new ball goes down, ball is kicked out.

“We just conceded a goal,” recalled Comerford of an episode from a soccer match with his school. “So I quickly put the ball down for a kick-out, not copping that there was meant to be a tip-off! I was fairly embarrassed and the lads on the other team who I’d know were slagging me.”

A few years later, Comerford was pressed into action when Cluxton was taken out by a challenge from Longford’s James McGivney in the 2018 Leinster championship. It turned out Cluxton broke three bones in his back, punctured a lung and suffered cartilage damage in his shoulder. Comerford proved a reliable alternative and didn’t concede a goal in his game and a half or so stint.

He started the Leinster final that summer against Laois so tomorrow will be his second provincial decider. David Byrne will be in the full-back line ahead of him and speaks of a seamless transition from Cluxton to Comerford.

“We have been very lucky,” said Byrne. “Evan has been involved in the panel for a number of years and has plenty of experience. When you are playing in the full-back line you play very close to the ‘keeper and they are always talking to you and Evan is in my ear as well, telling me whatever I need to hear and showing great leadership. I think Evan has done a great job so far.”