Morgan v Beggan: Crucial goalkeeper showdown is about much more than one man
COMFORTABLE FROM RANGE: Niall Morgan of Tyrone kicks a '45'. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
In awe at the audacity.
The last time Monaghan and Tyrone met in the championship a thrilled Marty Morrissey channelled the sense of wonder from onlookers all over.
“Fantastic, I love it!” he declared as Rory Beggan raced back towards his own goal, disposed Mattie Donnelly and then flicked the loose ball up before laying off. Alongside him Tomás Ó Sé could only chuckle.
The goalkeeper’s remit has changed utterly in the past decade and within that remarkable story, the 2021 Ulster final should have its own special chapter. For a long time, they have been far more than shot-stoppers. This ongoing evolution went to another level in Croke Park as Beggan and Niall Morgan pushed up on each other’s kick-out and stormed forward in attack.
The writing was on the wall. That season Raymond Galligan, Shaun Patton and Odhran Lynch all attempted similar. Since then, Ethan Rafferty has only escalated proceedings. It moves onwards. Outwards.
How Gaelic football reached this place and where it goes next is complex. Once the position was reliant on a player’s skillset and preferences. The game then was defined by individual flair and single talents. Then, not now.
“I remember Shane doing it,” says former Kerry goalkeeper and current selector Diarmuid Murphy. “Shane Curran in 2003, he would be out the field. I actually met him before and asked him about it. He said he just wanted to play like an outfield player. That was perfectly fine.
“When he was out the field, he’d twelve players behind him. Now you often see a goalkeeper get the ball in the middle of the field with 29 players in front of him. It is hugely different. You are only backing up the play there. That is the case in a lot of games. An outlet basically. You see it with kickouts, trying to engineer the second pass so you can use the goalkeeper to get out.
“There wasn’t that need twelve or fifteen years ago. It is all part of the possession game and teams retreating.”
Therein lies the key. Never before has the game been so dominated by strategy and structure. The collective triumphs any individual. When the crux is control, every body counts.
“Football was different then,” says Murphy, speaking at the Munster senior championships launch.
“The emphasis now is possession. Then it was all about territory. Kickouts went long. Get the ball into your forwards quickly regardless. Of course, ideally you wanted it to be good ball, but you had to get it in. Now retaining the ball is as important.”
During Monaghan’s defeat against Tyrone in the league, they were comprehensively outclassed in the kickout battle. 76% retention versus 94%. 0-7 scored from this source versus 2-5. Tyrone took 0-2 from Beggan’s restarts, Monaghan couldn’t mine anything from Morgan’s.
This has been a theme for Tyrone. On their own kickout against Armagh, they scored 0-9 and 0-2. Armagh’s comparison was 0-8 and 0-6. Against Kerry they scored 1-7 and conceded 0-1. Kerry’s was 0-5 and 0-3.
So much scheming goes into the set-piece now. In some ways, it is easier than it ever was.
“The huge difference in terms of goalkeeping is the fact every kickout is on the 21,” explain Murphy.
“It is much easier to plan when every single kickout is from the same spot. Previously we had the small square as well. That is a huge thing. I think there is more emphasis on accurate kicking. Keeping the ball.”
Here Tyrone excel. How much of this is to do with Niall Morgan? Let him answer for himself. The 2021 All-Star has been asked countless times about his evolving position and about his peers. His response never wavers. It is never purely about the goalkeeper.
“The key to Dublin is beyond Cluxton now,” he told this writer after the five in a row. “It is the movement of their players. I think Stephen would say this himself. They are relentless. They all move."
After ten minutes in the league fixture last month, Mícheál Bannigan kicked a free to leave them level. Tyrone then set up with three players in their full-back line and six players in a straight line from the edge of the D to halfway. By the time Morgan kicked the ball Conn Kilpatrick had broken into a pocket of space and Killian Lavelle was unable to stay with him.
The closest team-mate in midfield at the time of that mark was full forward Mattie Donnelly. The move ended with a ball into the square where Brian Kennedy was one-on-one with Francis Hughes. Tyrone won a penalty and scored a goal.
That single move shows how sides can differentiate themselves in 2023. Even if teams set up to mirror each other, superior execution within that system can swing the tie. From the moment that free went over, they had an array of options. At every turn they took the right one.
For decades, basketball has influenced Gaelic football at some level. First it was the transferability of skills from the court to the pitch. Then it seeped into coaching, with the thinking and patterns of the hardwood influencing both sides of the ball. As part of all of that, the intercounty game has taken after the NBA and moved towards position-less lineups.
More and more players are hybrid footballers capable of playing across several lines. Goalkeepers would inevitably get caught up in that change. Morgan is adamant the next step will see a team play without an orthodox goalkeeper.
Essentially, a last-man-back system. It is all part of a move towards attacking and defending together. Look at the overall machine rather than the cogs.
In order to secure a victory in O’Neills Healy Park, Viney Corey’s outfit need to disrupt Morgan’s recent form. Doing so must extend beyond the number one.
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