Shane Ryan: Kerry make no bones about it. We want to be defensively stingy

No 1: Shane Ryan enjoys competition with rival Shane Murphy. "It’s great for Shane to be pushing me, and vice-versa. We’ve a good relationship as well, we work well together, it’s healthy for both of us." Pic: Bryan Keane

For the Sam Maguire contenders with a group win already under lock and key, the next fairway doesn’t look quite so narrow.

The trick, Kerry keeper Shane Ryan reckons, is understanding it’s a means to an end. Putting it in context. Kerry put 24 points on Monaghan last Saturday and can look forward to Navan on the June bank holiday weekend with a spring in their step. But no-one’s talking July in the Kingdom set-up.

Ryan said he had “mixed feelings: about the opening win at Fitzgerald Stadium. “There were patches of the game where we were slick, our scoring efficiency was good, played a lot of good football. (But) there were handling errors in the second half, and unforced turnovers, so there is plenty to work on.

“It was a good win, because Mayo in Killarney last year was a different story. We had to go and lick our wounds. Last year we felt that we had a false sense of security coming into the Mayo game, and we got a rude awakening.

“We were very much aware coming into this game that we wanted to correct the areas that we had in the league, and from the Cork and Clare games, and rectify them. We did to a large extent. Our trajectory is upwards at the moment, and we still have a good bit to go.” 

Upwardly mobile was something manager Jack O’Connor alluded to as well, though not before expressing his disappointment at the goal Kerry conceded to Monaghan’s Gary Mohan. Defensive lapse or goalkeeping error?

“Of course, you’re annoyed to concede a goal, especially as a keeper. You’ll have to look back on it, and it’s an area we have to focus on as well, and just tidy up those small areas. It was dropping just under the crossbar.” 

Ryan is as comfortable as many top tier keepers out the field, previously lining up in the attack for Rathmore. Straying from the small square this season will be a “needs must thing", he says.

“It depends on what the other team present in front of you as well. If one of my team-mates are under pressure, and nobody in behind to receive the ball, and I’m the only on there, I’m not going to leave them hung out to dry.

“We have plenty of players outfield in Kerry who are well adept at the skills of the game, and great athletes, so I would like to leave them at it as much as I can. If I can chip in, and if I have to chip in and help out, I am comfortable in doing so.

“Is it my first option? Maybe not, but sometimes you feel that you have to come out, if the team or if a player is under pressure, I have to help them out. So I have to do it if I’m needed.”

Kerry only conceded two first half points against Monaghan, a stat not to be overlooked in the bigger picture. 

“We make no bones about it, that it’s a thing that we’re always trying to focus on and it’s an area that the best teams in the country, and the teams that win the All-Ireland, are probably the most adept defensively," Ryan mused. 

“Obviously they have it up the other side too, but if you don’t concede cheap scores, if you don’t let teams exploit you easily, and you’re hard to beat, that’s the foundation for any team, regardless of the sport. That’s something that we’re hopefully continuing to work on, and continually trying to improve on."