Beggan & Co creating culture of the walkabout keeper

From Rory Beggan kicking a point from play to Rob Hennelly saving a penalty and kicking the equalising free, the opening weekend of the Allianz League gave more examples of the evolving role of the Gaelic football goalkeeper.

And former Clare football custodian Joe Hayes says he fully expects the role of the modern goalkeeper to continue to evolve.

Hayes first linked up with the Clare panel in 2001 before re-joining the squad in 2005, enjoying a stellar career with his county, reaching an All-Ireland quarter final and enjoying league success along the way.

The Lissycasey man spent the last two seasons as goalkeeping coach with the Tipperary footballers, playing a part in their historic 2020 Munster title win.

"I watched three games on Saturday and went to see Clare and Offaly on Sunday and I can see it developing all the time," said Hayes, speaking to RTE Sport.

"Some years ago, the first noticeable tactic was goalies coming up to take frees but now they are all at it, kicking from long range, off the ground.

"Then we had the kick-out where the restart would happen, and the goalkeeper would immediately get back the ball from a team-mate. That stayed in place until the GAA took that rule away about passing backwards from a kick-out.

"Next it moved to goalkeepers coming out the field to fill space on the opposition kick-out, narrowing the options for their opposite number.

"And now they are making themselves available for more forwards passes, they are frequently joining the attack and they are scoring from play too. Beggan scored from play at the weekend, and Niall Morgan has done so in the past and I only expect we will see more of that as the season goes on."

From a neutral point of view there is huge excitement when goalkeepers