A CHANCE CONVERSATION at the All Stars is how Shane Ryan and Shane McGuigan signed off on one of the most controversial collisions of the 2023 season.
In the All-Ireland football semi-final, the ball was played across to the middle towards the advancing Kerry goalkeeper, Ryan. It was risky enough to tempt Shane McGuigan to chase, but he ended up being caught high by Ryan who jumped up and turned his body once he collected the ball.
Ryan went on to kick a point from play, leaving Kerry one down on the half hour mark, 1-7 to Derry’s 1-8, but it also was a heavy blow for McGuigan who shipped additional punishment through the game.
Shane Ryan with l high challenge on Shane McGuigan as he jumps into the Derry player. No foul given and the goalkeeper scores
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 16, 2023
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On RTÉ, co-commentator Enda McGinley was adamant; ‘When Shane Ryan got the ball he knew that Shane McGuigan was coming in. He turned his body. For me, he knew exactly what he was doing.’
On BBCNI, they asked their referee expert, Maurice Deegan, who said, ‘Definite free for Derry. The goalie clearly jumps and turns into the Derry player’s head. Definite card.’
Yet when the two met at the All-Stars event, they shared a chat and even a joke about the incident.
“At the time, Tom Sullivan gave me a pass. I am not sure that he meant to put it that far in front of me. But the ball took a good bounce and was in the air,” Ryan says.
“From a goalkeeper point of view, when the ball is in the air, your instinct is to make sure it is secure. At the time, my instinct was to jump at the ball to secure it into my midriff. If I caught it out on front of me, it would have been open for a turnover.
“I could see Shane advancing, but I was in mid-air at that stage. I turned my body to protect the ball. I made contact with my hip in his face.
“Was it intentional? Absolutely not. My initial reaction was to keep playing on. As I played on I seen he was on the ground after and I probably didn’t realise how tough the contact was until I watched the replays back.
“But the ball was in the air and my reaction was to make sure the ball was secure because I was the last line of defence. If I was turned over, it was a certain goal and my position in the air made for the contact with Shane, which was unfortunate.”
Asked about the nature of their conversation, Ryan insists that it was convivial with a joke about how McGuigan’s head was. McGuigan also visited Killarney the week after the semi-final for a bit of a break so they talked around that too.
The collision was the natural extension of Ryan’s increased involvement out the field with Kerry last year. If you play as an outfield player, as the majority of goalkeepers are expected to do, you will be subject to the same contacts as an outfield player.
The collision with McGuigan, and contacts like that, will be inevitable.
It all makes the position more attractive, the Rathmore man believes.
“About 15 years ago, goalkeeper was a less sexy position, could you call it that? But there’s kids coming to club training now that want to be goalkeepers and in my own experience when I was growing up playing Under 8s with Rathmore, but they see goalkeeper now as a position where you can express yourself and there’s so many facets to the game now being a goalkeeper you almost need to be able to do everything,” he says.
He only became a goalkeeper in a quirk of fate. Apart from two championship appearances there for his club when he was 19, he has played his entire time with Rathmore out the field and he explained how this has been a refreshing change to his duties with Kerry.
“Initially, I saw myself as an outfield player, maybe not so much with Kerry but I saw myself as an outfield player. That’s where I fell in love with football first, that’s where all my grá for football came, playing outfield, primarily midfield or full-forward with Rathmore,” he says.
His first experience with goals came through Killarney Celtic and the Kennedy Cup for the ages of 11 to 13.
That came at the same time as South Kerry trials at U14 level. Ryan’s club manager put him down as a goalkeeper for the trials at Fossa.
When his name was called out for goals, he decided to go along with it. It was his first time involved with Kerry and when he performed well in the Munster U14 blitz in Dungarvan a month later, he never looked back.
“I’ve always had the ambition of trying to play outfield with Kerry,” he said.
“When I became part of the senior panel in ’19 as a goalkeeper, I probably parked that ambition and solely focused on goal. I felt that if I had the outfield dream hanging behind me that I wouldn’t be able to get the best out of myself playing in goal.”
And yet he gets the best of both worlds by still lining out outfield for Rathmore.
“The split season has really, really helped me because I’m a goalkeeper now for six or seven months of the year and for the remaining five or six months, I’m an outfielder,” he says.
“It gives me a mental freshness as much as anything. The role of a goalkeeper, particularly at inter-county level, can be a pressure cooker where any mistake you make is magnified. You’re constantly under scrutiny from opposition. Playing outfield gives you a sense of freedom. I really, really enjoy doing both.”
Shane Ryan was speaking at the launch of the 35th Comortas Peile Páidí Ó Sé, on 23-25 February 2024. Full details available on www.Paidiose.com
