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Posted by Dermot Mc Ardle on 1st Mar 2022

The End of the Fly Keeper?

Sunday's Kerry V Monaghan game was probably the first time in a high profile match that a direct turnover on a "Fly" Keeper led directly to a goal. 

" What the F%^& was Beggan at?" , " He's a goal keeper, he should stay in goal", " It was only a matter of time" were some of the reactions overheard when it happened. 

If you've ever played any 7s football, you will know that the most important player on the field is always the goal keeper. That has now filtered into the 15 a side game, and it is making it more exciting.

If you look at the actual stats, you will find that Rory Beggan has supported the play in the opposite half 100s of times over the last number of years, and very rarely turns over the ball. 

The biggest problem Monaghan had was not that the ball was turned over ( it happens), but that they left the best forward in the country 1v1, with 50 yards of space to run in to, and nobody was there to take Beggan's place.

There were probably 100s of coaches out there planning on using the fly keeper this year, and they are now having doubts. If you take a step back, nothing has changed, except now coaches understand that integrating the keeper into the attack is not just a matter of letting them play ball.