In keeping with his status as No 1, Kerry's Shane Ryan owns the big moments

Irish Examiner

5 days ago

SLOWLY but absolutely, this group of Kerry footballers is unfurling itself and blossoming before our eyes. Gavin White as captain. Jason Foley pitch-side with RTE after the semi-final defeat of Tyrone. Joe O'Connor with a Donaghy whaddya-think-of-that moment. Arguably Shane Ryan is the most sure-handed of all, as comfortable getting into the thick of it over coffee as he is shielding his net and quarter-backing Kerry's possessions.
A for-instance: are you comfortable wading into the weeds of Armagh's goal in the All-Ireland semi-final last year. Ryan's error for Barry McCambridge's goal was a pivotal moment in the Kingdom's demise. Some might go to the dark place the Cork hurlers presently occupy and not emerge for a while.
Ryan? Not so much.
Of course, there's every possibility the Rathmore giant is affecting nonchalance. He had to be disappointed and agitated, and it's suggested to him that his All-Star form this season is partly a consequence of that moment. Make your own mind up, but if Ryan's bluffing, don't sit down at the poker table with him.
'I probably didn't pay a massive amount of attention to it. Now, it was a huge moment and it was a huge factor in that game as well. But I suppose the nature of the club scene meant I was back in Rathmore within a week and I was playing outfield. So I had kind of parked it in my head because I was operating in a different position in the club. I suppose it wasn't really until I got back in with Kerry and maybe got a couple of sessions under the belt back in goal...and you just get your confidence back more than anything.
"But I wouldn't say it was a massive factor (this season). The nature of the position, you are going to make mistakes, and the longer I've played at the top level, I've kind of tried to accept that they're just gonna happen. Obviously, you don't want them to happen, particularly in an All-Ireland stage, but they're going to.
"And it's always a measure of a fella, how he reacts from mistakes rather than the mistakes themselves, and that's kind of how I try to perceive them. Because if you go out there fearing a mistake, you're never gonna express yourself. You're never gonna perform to your maximum. And that goes for all positions in the field, but when you're playing in goal, and you drop a high ball, 90% of the time it's in the back of the net or it's over the bar. If I'm playing full forward for Rathmore, and I drop a ball, no one gives it a second thought. So it's trying to compartmentalise those individual errors and just trying to react positively to them.'
Convinced? Does it actually matter? However long it took Ryan to move on, something beyond the experience of another campaign has hooshed him to a higher plateau.
'I couldn't genuinely put my finger on any one thing," he shrugs. "You do have chats with your coach about the mental side of the game. I've been very fortunate to have two brilliant goalkeeper coaches involved with us over the last number of years. Brian Kelly's involved with us this year, and Brendan Kealy's spent six years with me. They've always been great sounding boards, Diarmuid Murphy before them. And I'd have to give great credit to (Kerry's back-up keeper) Shane Murphy as well.
"Shane has been nothing but really positive for my game. And that's a difficult position for him to be in as well. We're both fighting for the same jersey, but he'd be giving me advice as much as I'd be giving him, and we both kinda look out for each other's best interest. And I think that's actually helped both of us in our performances.
"It's probably helped Kerry as well in terms of two keepers on a pitch, competent in so many different areas. Just chasing improvement, to be better week-on-week in terms of looking at footage from a game, looking at footage from training, and just trying to tidy up the small areas without getting obsessive about it because, there are kickouts that come off, but if that ball is a quarter of a second later, the opposition get it. And sometimes you gotta cut your cloth and say, 'look, the opposition were on it today. Their press was good. They were able to get the breaking ball'.
"Sometimes keepers get too much credit on kickout stats and get too much criticism on the other side of things when they don't go well. It's just trying to find a balance between areas I really want to go after, but not over analysing them and limiting myself when I do go out to play then, if that makes sense.'
Ryan's ability to restart left and right is a given these days. He got away what may have been the most important restart of his Kerry career in the 2022 semi-final. But it's his shot-stopping and reflex saves that have further enhanced his No 1 credentials. If he's not ahead of Patton, Morgan, Beggan et al, he's line-ball with them.
That 2022 restart to Briain Ó Beaglaoich? 'I've had a lot of them, to be honest. The pressure always seems to come on keepers late in the game. But if Seánie (O'Shea) didn't kick that free, would it have been as important? No. That's the bit. And I'm not sure really. I don't pay too much heed to that. But definitely in the last 10 minutes of games, it seems to become more important.'
It's a lazy assumption that, because he operates outfield for Rathmore, that he is a latter-day convert at the behest of Jack O'Connor to keeper. Hardly true. He was a Kennedy Cup keeper for Kerry when he was 13, under the watchful coaching eye of Joby Costello.
"I played soccer til 2013 and packed it in after that then. But I got a lot of the basics in terms of footwork, in terms of being vocal, in terms of being a presence in the box. Soccer would be well ahead of GAA in terms of goalkeeper coaching from the youth stage though the GAA is now getting better. In fact, definitely getting better. But I learned a lot of basics then that became second nature to me and perhaps (other) GAA goalkeepers didn't get that coaching. Like, it might have took them a bit longer to develop. And they are something that I still rely on, those basics.
"I played in goal with the (Kerry) development squads up to 14, 15, 16. I played with Kerry under Mickey Ned in 2013 and then was minor under Jack the year after."
Oh, but the changes this year. The pin-balling of options out the field, the reads that vanish like a fart in the wind. The pressure.
'I suppose it depends on the time in the game, depends on the score in the game, depends on players that are out there. So it's not a one size fits all in terms of kick-outs. There's times you may go to a set play. There's times when you're just trying to see, you're trying to get out quick. Are there pockets anywhere?
"So it depends on what's presenting in front of you. You're kind of very reactive to what the opposition are presenting you and particularly what the scoreboard is saying as well because, you might be up three points. There might be three minutes left. You might just need hands on ball. So it depends what's presented in front of you.'
He strokes his chin. 'It's been a huge change. And the first thing that comes to mind is that teams used to drop off your kick out, so maybe 30-40% of the time you were guaranteed possession. There is no team, dropping off a kick out, no team at any stage now. So that's the first thing. All your kick outs now there is some element of pressure on them.
"Second thing then obviously, the arc has condensed the space. So your ability to break momentum in the game is a little bit more challenging now, because it's harder to get a guaranteed possession. And as always, a keeper is so reliant on what's outside him. He's only as good as the options that are given to him. Obviously, the keeper has to execute the kick, has to make the right decision on where the ball is going, but it's proving a challenge.
"And I think every team in the country has struggled in different parts of the year, with their kick out. If I have my goalkeeper hat on, you're relinquishing control a bit more than you'd like, but with my GAA supporter hat on, as a supporter, it adds great excitement and a chaotic nature to the game, which as we can see, the fans are loving. And they're turning out in their droves to watch those games.
"You're trying to take on information and make decisions as quick as it's coming in because the picture is constantly changing. I mean, a press is changing, bodies are moving, so you're trying to see, is he really on? Is there an opposition man there? Have we an overload somewhere? Have I got a mismatch one on one? You've probably half a second to make a decision because teams are so good now that if something pops up, it's closed in an instant."